H 02 - Physical properties of building materials:

What you build a structure out of is just as important as how you build it. Different materials have vastly different properties:

Wood: Properties: Strengths- cheap, lightweight, moderately strong in compression and tension. Weaknesses- rots, swells an burn easily Applications- bridges, houses, two-to three storey buildings, roller coasters Examples Wooden cabins and houses Plastic: Properties: Type- high- strength plastic fabric Ingredients long chains of molecules Strengths flexible, light weight, long lasting, strong in compression and tension Weaknesses expensive Applications-umbrellas, inflatable roof over sports arenas, tent structures, inflatable roof Example: Spectators watching a football game inside the Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia Aluminum: Properties: Type aluminum alloy Ingredients- aluminum with magnesium and copper Strengths- light weight, doesnt rust, strong in compression and tension Weaknesses- expensive Applications airplane wings, boats, cars, skyscraper skin Example: Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Brick: Properties : Type ordinary brick Ingredients burned clay Strengths cheap, strong in compression Weaknesses heavy, weak in tension Application- walls of early skyscrapers and tunnels, domes Example: Original Thames Tunnel-London, England Thames Tunnel as it appeared when it opened for traffic, London, England, 1843

Concrete: Properties: Type fine-grained concrete Ingredients- cement, water, small stones Strengths- cheap, fireproof and weatherproof, molds to any shape, strong in compression Weaknesses cracks with temperature changes, weak in tension Application early arch bridges and domes Example: Pantheon, Rome Italy Reinforced concrete: Properties: Type - fine grained-concrete with high- strength steel Ingredients steel bars hidden in concrete Strengths- low-cost. Fire-proof and weather-proof, molds to any shape, strong in compression and tension Weaknesses can crack as it cools and hardens Applications bridges, dams, domes, beams and columns in skyscrapers Example: Hoover Dam, Nevada/Arizona boarder Cast iron: Properties: Type- cast iron Ingredients- iron with lots of carbon Strengths molds to any shape, strong in compression Weaknesses- weaker than steel in tension, breaks without warning Application arch bridges, cannons, historic domes Example: Iron Bridge- Shropshire, England Steel: Properties: high-strength steel Ingredients iron with a touch of carbon Strengths one of strongest materials used in construction, strong in compression and tension Weaknesses rusts, loses strength in extremely high temperature Application cables in suspension bridges, trusses, beams and columns in skyscrapers, roller coasters Example: Sears Tower, Chicago, Illinois Vital Statistics: Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA Completion Date: 1973 Cost: $150 million Height: 1,454 feet Stories: 110 Materials: Steel

Facing Materials: Black aluminum Engineer(s): Skidmore, Owings & Merrill The Sears Tower is an example of the revolutionary bundled-tube structural design. Tube buildings gain most of their structural support from a rigid network of beams and columns in their outer walls. The rigid outer walls act like the walls of a hollow tube. The Sears Tower is actually a bundle of nine tubes, and is considered one of the most efficient structures designed to withstand wind. This is a great design for a skyscraper in Chicago, the "Windy City," where the average wind speed is 16 miles per hour. As the building climbs upward, the tubes begin to drop off, reducing the wind forces on the building. The Tower's heavy weight -- more than 440 million pounds -- is also supported by 114 piles sunk deep into the earth so that they stand firmly on hard, solid bedrock. In 1974, the Sears Tower in Chicago assumed the coveted title of world's tallest building, at 1,454 feet. It held this title for 22 years until 1998, when the decorative spires atop the Petronas Towers in Malaysia surpassed the Sears Tower by 33 feet. Today, the Sears Tower still boasts the tallest occupiable floor and the tallest skyscraper roof in the world. Pantheon Vital Statistics: Location: Rome, Italy Completion Date: 123 Diameter: 142 feet Type: Ribbed Purpose: Religious Materials: Concrete, brick Architect: Hadrian When Roman Emperor Hadrian decided to build a monument to reflect the power of his empire, he built a dome -- but not just any dome. Hadrian constructed a building out of bricks and concrete with a dome that was bigger and more extraordinary than anything anyone had ever seen before. The enormous building, called the Pantheon, was built as a temple to all the Roman gods almost 2,000 years ago. It still exists today, almost entirely in its original form. The Pantheon is remarkable for its size, its construction, and its design. The enormous dome stretches 142 feet in diameter; that's the same as the distance from the Statue of Liberty's sandals to her torch! Given the dome's size and weight, Hadrian's engineers had to find ways to lighten the heavy structure. They scooped out 140 waffle-like depressions, called coffers, in five rows around the dome's base to eliminate some masonry and reduce the dome's weight. They also carved an opening, called an oculus, at the top of the dome, which reduced some mass and created a daily light show for which the Pantheon is famous. The result was an impossibly huge dome, one that would remain the world's largest for 1,300 years. Here's how this dome stacks up against some of the biggest domes in the world. (diameter, in feet)

. Petronas Towers

Vital Statistics: Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Completion Date: 1998 Cost: $1.6 billion Height: 1,483 feet Stories: 88 Materials: Concrete, Steel Facing Materials: Aluminum, Stainless Steel Engineer(s): Thornton-Tomasetti and Ranhill Bersekutu Until 1998, the world's tallest skyscraper had always been in the United States. But that year, Malaysia's Petronas Towers laid claim to this distinction. Squeaking past the Chicago Sears Tower by 33 feet, the spires atop the Petronas Towers peak at an impressive 1,483 feet. Yet there's a controversy. The highest occupied floor in the Sears Tower is actually 200 feet higher than the top floor of the Petronas Towers, and its antennae stretch higher still. Each tower's floor plan forms an eight-pointed star, a design inspired by traditional Malaysian Islamic patterns. The 88-story towers, joined by a flexible skybridge on the 42nd floor, have been described as two "cosmic pillars" spiraling endlessly towards the heavens.

Reference: Building Big: Materials Lab This Web site was produced for PBS Online by WGBH. Web site 2000-2001 WGBH Educational Foundation.