What was that wobbly bridge that eventually collapsed?

[Mara Steele]

And was anyone else simply FASCINATED and incredibly disturbed by footage of this when they were a kid?

For some reason, I found it to be the most frightening thing at one time...

[pmbryant]

1. Tacoma Narrows Bridge

1940, I believe.

EDIT: I never saw this footage until I was a physics student in college. The film of its shaking and eventual collapse was a good lesson in the power of vibrational harmonics. :-)

--Peter

[MercutioATC]

2. Yep, here's a link to photos and the video:

http://www.enm.bris.ac.uk/research/nonlinear/tacoma/tacoma.html

[Mara Steele]

7. Thanks!... still gets me...

Absolutely scary shit... :scared:

Yikes!

:D

[Mara Steele]

6. Oh right, thanks!

I watched the footage for the first time in 3rd or 4th grade, and became obsessed w/it for a while. Dreamed about it, talked about it.

Don't know why, exactly. It just seemed so SURREAL. I guess for a kid it's pretty scary, to see that the solid things of this world aren't necessarily solid! :scared:

[LynneSin]

3. Holy Bat Shite - I remember that

I saw it in first grade and for about 6 months I would panic everytime we went over a bridge!

[calico1]

4. I never saw the footage either until

after I was adult, but the part that always stuck with me was the footage of the man trying to save his dog. I seem to recall that there wasn't any traffic, thankfully and the dog ended up being the only victim. Very sad. I am an animal lover. But I guess it would have been much worse if the bridge had been packed with cars.

[BigMcLargehuge]

5. Galloping Gertie

[lcooksey]

8. You mean the Republican party? (eom)

[flamingyouth]

9. I drive over it all the time

And now they're building a second one right next to it.

That collapsed the month my dad was born.

I'm also old enough to remember when the Hood Canal floating bridge collapsed in the '70s, not to mention the old I-90 bridge in the late '80s.

Ah, apparently I have a treasure trove of stories about collapsed bridges in Washington state.:eyes:

[Mara Steele]

14. Hope that's not a metaphor for anything!

Your treasure trove of stories, that is...

:think:

:D

[flamingyouth]

19. I've got a treasure trove full of more boring stories than you

could ever dream of! Should you be unable to sleep one night, please give me a call. I stay up late! :D

[Mara Steele]

20. Will do!

:hi:

I've got a few of my own doozies, mostly from my Swedish great-uncle Leslie, who likes to tell me all about my ancestors' kinship and descent patterns for several centuries back --

And we're SWEDISH LUTHERAN on that side of the family, so believe me, it's just THRILLING stuff!!

:D

:boring:

[flamingyouth]

21. Oh, honey, I can put Bergman films to shame

with stories of my Swedish Lutheran family. So, no worries there!

We're going to have the most fascinating lunch, I can tell. It will be like watching Dinner With Andre, only I won't fall asleep during it. ;)

[Mara Steele]

22. I try and make up for the sins of my fathers

Their boring-ness, that is.

:D

[flamingyouth]

24. I do as well

I am mostly un-boring, I like to think. :D

[Mara Steele]

25. Mostly unboring here, too

except for my underwear and socks.

:hi:

[flamingyouth]

26. Some things are best left boring

And I'd say underwear and socks are among them! :D

[Mara Steele]

28. I don't know...

I could definitely get into some interesting underwear, if it was on certain people, if you know what I mean... :evilgrin:

[DrWeird]

10. Almost got my grandpa.

He had to drive over it the every day to and from work.

The rocking of the bridge is do to harmonic resonance. Kind of like when you're on a swing, add a little force at the right time, and you keep going higher and higher. Well the rocking of the bridge was caused by the wind, several days of wind and the bridge would rock more and more.

As my grandma told the story, my grandpa got home from work one evening looking as pale as a ghost and said, "they can go ahead and fire me, I'm never going over that bridge again."

The next morning it collapsed.

[Mara Steele]

23. Wow, what a story!

Amazing... Was that before or after your mom/dad was born?

What a lucky man!

:wow:

[DrWeird]

27. A few years before my dad was born.

My other grandpa was almost killed before my mom was born when Japanese destroyers were depth charging his submarine. But that's a story for another thread.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

11. This is TOO cool not to be in the homepage, although nonpolitical.

Consider yourself nominated, Missuz.

[Mara Steele]

17. Wow, thank you mister!

Now I feel bad for not nominating your apocalyptic Hell Kitties when I had a chance...

:D

[MallRat]

12. Unbelievable. It was apparently a TOURIST ATTRACTION before it collapsed.

Here's a brief history, along with an eyewitness account from the poor schmoe whose car was stranded on the bridge just before the collapse.
http://www.ketchum.org/tacomacollapse.html

[Mara Steele]

15. I KNOW!!! That's what freaked me out, I think...

It is just so weird...

[BringEmOn]

13. Bush's Bridge To the 19th Century?

[Mara Steele]

16. GREAT ANSWER!!!

:loveya:

:yourock:

Brilliant, you're just brilliant.

Yes, that's the one...

:D

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

18. ARGHHH - MY GEPHYROPHOBIA!!!!!

:scared: