Five small mathematical errors

Source: mixednews.ru/archives/15234

Five small mathematical errors turned monstrous catastrophes

will be 12 pictures, I will inform you when I finish

If you are reading this article schoolchildren - they want to pay particular: Kids! Teach math! Because when you become adults, one small mistake can cost the lives of many people.

Do not believe? Here are five real-life stories that confirm that we were right:

1. The collapse of the passenger liner because square windows





Jet aircraft in the 1950s was just beginning. The first steel liner "Comet" - the brainchild of de Havilland (British aircraft manufacturer; approx. Mixednews). It was ultra-modern jet airliner with unique for its time characteristics and a pressurized cabin. Unfortunately, in 1954, two "Comets" collapsed right in the flight, ditching a total of 56 people.

The reason is ridiculously simple:



The square portholes. It was one of those annoying little things that are easy to miss in the design; but as soon as something happens, they become obvious even a child.

That bar of chocolate. What do you think, where it fractures, if the pressure on it?



That's right, along these grooves.

So, a square window consists of four 90-degree recesses, and therefore, it has four weaknesses. If your house pressed, the crack will certainly be passed through a corner of a window:

Posted in [mergetime] 1330686707 [/ mergetime]
Have you noticed that the windows all round the aircraft? This is not Beauty - round shape does not allow the plane to break apart. The pressure is distributed across the curve, instead of going to the cracks in the corners (as it turned out) and break the plane apart.

Believe me, it was not easy to figure out. Experts had no idea why the design of the aircraft falling apart, until the structure tested by repeated simulation of pressure on the cockpit. Of course, the fuselage, eventually burst, and the gap began precisely with these notorious corners. Since then, all the windows of airplanes only round.



2. The angle of the runway becomes a cause of the crash fighter



No need to be a pilot to understand - to land the plane on an aircraft carrier is extremely complex. This runway in miniature, stuffed with other aircraft, in addition, more and bobs on the waves. But there was another problem ... ridiculously simple.

The first aircraft carriers looked like this:



On the one hand - airplanes waiting to take off, on the other hand you are trying to land. If you do not stop in time - there will be one big ball of hellfire. A stop in time, this is not a sheep coughed - catching brake cable required serious skill. As a result, carriers have gone on cartoon logic and established network that could stop the aircraft, did not catch the brake cable. However, it missed the brake cable planes sometimes even managed to jump over the network.

And what it was a brilliant innovation, allowing much more secure landing?

They turned the runway by about 9 degrees.

In total, it is a business! But with a crooked angle plane that caught the cable, I could give full throttle again to go to take off and make another attempt. And other planes waited quietly outside the runway away from sin.



3. A huge gallery collapsed because of the (seemingly) minor changes of design



Hosts Hyatt Regency - the new hotel in Kansas City, dreamed that everything they had, with all sopelkami and whistles. The architectural firm responsible for the design of the building, made a proposal to make a few galleries, which is attached to the ceiling. The idea was very graceful. This is only her incarnation caused the death of over a hundred people.

The disadvantage of the project was ridiculously simple: one long rod was replaced by two short.

If there is one principle is the same for all human beings, so that's what we always prefer the path of least resistance. The original plan was to place the two galleries, one above the other, with the two had maintained a long rod attached to the ceiling. So:



Looks pretty simple, does not it? The whole structure hangs on one long bar, which makes it just as strong as and difficult to build - the rod must pass through two galleries. The trick is that large parts of complex control - dragged into the house of a table is much easier unassembled. In addition, the rod must be threaded along the entire length - so that you can tighten the screws to the upper gallery.

Steel company responsible for the production of rods made in the construction of one small change - replace one long rod with two short. So:

This small change has killed 114 people, crippled 216 and cost the company $ 140 million for litigation.

One rod, two nuts. Each nut should only carry the weight of its own platform. What is good because each nut (and welded beam to which it is bolted) can withstand the weight of only one gallery. After changing the design turned out that the upper nut was to carry the weight of two galleries. The tragedy was inevitable. However, despite the evidence, none of the engineers and professionals-builders that mistake and did not notice. And here one night during a dance contest bearing nut broke down and both the gallery collapsed. During the subsequent trial it became clear that no steel company or engineering firm responsible for the construction, do not bother to even make the calculation that would have shown that glaring flaw.



4. The reason for the deaths of several hundred people began hinges nightclub
In Boston, the thirties and forties the most fashionable place was a nightclub Cocoanut Grove. There is always bubbling with life, going to local celebrities. And, of course, it was often overcrowded. Sometimes people gathered nearly twice the capacity of official institutions, which amounted to 460 people. Neither the owners nor the visitors was not discouraged. Until 1942, when a fire killed 492 people. The paradox is that most of the deaths was the culprit did not fire, ... the hinges. The reason is ridiculously simple:

Assistant waiter in the dark could not find a power outlet. To look around, he struck a match and accidentally set fire to some flammable interior detail. The guy did not have time to blink, as the fire spread to the bright decorations that mimic the tropical forest, and soon the entire club was in smoke and flames. Everything happened so lightning fast, that the bodies of some victims and found then sitting with glasses in their hands.

Among the many safety violations - from the number of visitors to the use of dry pine needles in the design of the club - there was one fatal flaw, which no one could not have imagined: the doors open places inside. Firefighters estimate that if the door opened outward, the list of victims was reduced to three hundred names.



5. Bridge Tacoma-Narrows collapsed because he was too solid
Tacoma Narrows Bridge, (one of the largest suspension bridges in the United States; approx. Mixednews) was considered a miracle of engineering until he collapsed in the Strait of Tacoma-Narrows, killing a dog left in the car. Her landlord happily ran to a safe place (it prudently taking a camera with which withdrew unique, sensational shots).

That's all I wanted to say!



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