glenc
12-04-2010, 06:23 AM
I liked this show on SBS: Engineering Connections Ep 9 - The Millau Bridge. You will need a fast internet connection.
http://player.sbs.com.au/programs#/programs_08/fullepisodes/latestepisodes/playlist/Engineering-Connections-Ep-9-The-Millau-Bridge/
Teflon is used in Dobsonian telescopes and to make a bridge.
They put teflon on top of the 7 piers and slid the 2460m long road deck across them.
Here is a summary of the above program.
"Richard Hammond reveals the engineering inspirations behind the tallest road bridge in the world - the Millau Viaduct, in France. He fires three quarters of a million volts from his finger tips to see how the power of lightning cut the steel structure quickly and accurately. The huge piers - 340 metres high, and which would look down on the Eiffel Tower - were positioned to millimetre accuracy with the system that located lost nuclear submarines. The longest road-deck in the world was launched along the top of the piers - and required the slipperiest substance known to man - Teflon. Steel cables hold the bridge in shape - born of a series of mining accidents. And to allow the bridge to expand a metre and a half in the summer sun, the engineers turned to an ancient Celtic boat-building technique which can make concrete as bendy as wood."
http://player.sbs.com.au/programs#/programs_08/fullepisodes/latestepisodes/playlist/Engineering-Connections-Ep-9-The-Millau-Bridge/
Teflon is used in Dobsonian telescopes and to make a bridge.
They put teflon on top of the 7 piers and slid the 2460m long road deck across them.
Here is a summary of the above program.
"Richard Hammond reveals the engineering inspirations behind the tallest road bridge in the world - the Millau Viaduct, in France. He fires three quarters of a million volts from his finger tips to see how the power of lightning cut the steel structure quickly and accurately. The huge piers - 340 metres high, and which would look down on the Eiffel Tower - were positioned to millimetre accuracy with the system that located lost nuclear submarines. The longest road-deck in the world was launched along the top of the piers - and required the slipperiest substance known to man - Teflon. Steel cables hold the bridge in shape - born of a series of mining accidents. And to allow the bridge to expand a metre and a half in the summer sun, the engineers turned to an ancient Celtic boat-building technique which can make concrete as bendy as wood."