How to Topple a Statue Using Science

[RandySF]

rom Bristol, England to Birmingham, Alabama, people all over the world have been grappling with the legacy of racism by tossing their grappling hooks around the heads of problematic monuments.

Should you happen to find yourself near a statue that you decide you no longer like, we asked scientists for the best, safest ways to bring it to the ground without anyone getting hurt—except, of course, for the inanimate racist who’s been dead for a century anyway.


https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a32870657/remove-statue-science/

[Hoyt]

1. Thanks. Filing for all the confederate monuments in my rube state. This one will be tougher, though

May have to resort to sandblasting. And, I'm serious. Have supported sandblasting carving on Stone Mountain for decades.

[csziggy]

4. I wonder if the thermite mentioned would work?

In an earlier thread someone suggested a big fire. Thermite would create a very high heat which would split the granite, especially if a very cold source - liquid nitrogen as suggested in the Popular Mechanics article - then is used to douse the stone face.

[Hoyt]

6. Will have to try that on a smaller granite rock to see if it might work. Alternatively, this would

work to get rid of the everything but the horses:

[edhopper]

5. This would take care of it

[Hoyt]

7. Simplest way for sure. I'd pay to watch.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

8. Sandblasting might be the best way to get it looking somewhat natural.

That's a particularly objectionable form of defacement, the way it is now.

[The Polack MSgt]

2. That was a fun read

But, pulling it down is vandalism - using thermite sounds like an arson charge waiting to happen

[underpants]

3. How to glue yourself to an airplane

Under WHY NOT!