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World's Tallest Building Causing Earthquakes?

Posted by Zonk on Sun Dec 04, 2005 01:41 AM
from the just-big-boned dept.
Science
IZ Reloaded writes "A geologist thinks that the increase in the number of earthquakes in Taiwan is due to Taipei 101, the world's tallest building. CNN reports: 'Lin said Taipei 101 weighed 700,000 tons and estimated stress from vertical loading on its foundation at 4.7 bars, of which some would be transferred to the earth's upper crust due to extremely soft sedimentary rocks beneath the Taipei basin. If a fault is about to crack, then a little pressure can trigger an earthquake. It's like the last straw that breaks the camel's back.'" More from The Guardian.
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  • Nature will work it out (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 04 2005, @01:42AM (#14176828)
    Big building causes earthquake, earthquake destroys big building.

    • Taipei 101 is "earthquake proof" (Score:5, Informative)

      by alienmole (15522) on Sunday December 04 2005, @02:47AM (#14177026)
      Search for "TMD" (tuned mass damper) on this page [maths.org].

        • Re:Nature will work it out (Score:5, Funny)

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 04 2005, @05:54AM (#14177455)
          Anytime we think that we can fly, we're proven wrong. We spend billions of dollars studying wax-and-feather wings, but one small leap off of a barn roof is all it takes to break a neck. Gravity has torn apart entire families.

          The notion that a rocket can actually make it to the moon is totally preposterous. This sounds more like someone trying to justify a grant or raise money than any serious science.

          • Re:Nature will work it out (Score:5, Informative)

            by big tex (15917) <[moc.liamg] [ta] [ytilanoisrot]> on Sunday December 04 2005, @04:56AM (#14177366)
            One of the unique features of manhattan (actually, most of NYC, esp. the Bronx) is lots of bedrock, real close. When we were tunneling for the 3rd water tunnel, the rock was hitting 16,000psi - 20,000psi, if I remember correct. That's so hard that it's unbelievable.

            You don't drive piles in manhattan, shit just bottoms out on rock so fast it hurts. Spread footings, caissons with rock sockets, that's what you use.

            the end result is that the load is distributed so far it doesn't matter.

  • All together now... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by daeley (126313) on Sunday December 04 2005, @01:46AM (#14176840) Homepage
    Correlation does not imply causation. It's not just a saying: it's the law! :)

  • Tallest != Largest (Score:5, Informative)

    by RedWizzard (192002) on Sunday December 04 2005, @01:47AM (#14176845)
    Bit of a misleading headline. Taipei 101 may be the world's tallest building (by some definitions), but it's not the largest. The Pentagon is larger by floor area and several buildings are much larger by volume. Wikipedia has more [wikipedia.org].

    • Re:Tallest != Largest (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Stevyn (691306) on Sunday December 04 2005, @01:52AM (#14176857)
      Whats more interesting is the Boeing Everett plant mentioned in that link has its own weather. I saw a special on it on the history channel and it said how it can rain inside the building. This along with the building mentioned in the article shows how humans can not assume their pride or ambition can overcome the forces of nature. You can construct a strong building, but if the foundation is made of quicksand over a fault line, it just might sink.

    • Re:Tallest != Largest (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Marillion (33728) <ericbardes&gmail,com> on Sunday December 04 2005, @02:16AM (#14176938)
      But, it is built with concrete with very little land area.

      Think of how a 50kg woman in stilletto heels leaves dents in wood floors where a 90kg man in sneakers doesn't.

          • Re:Tallest != Largest (Score:5, Informative)

            by cjanota (936004) on Sunday December 04 2005, @06:21AM (#14177514)
            Height has everything to do with potential energy, at least from the gravity point of view. PE=mgh But having more potential energy has nothing to do with the pressure on the ground. It is a static situation. Potential energy would only come into play if the building were to fall down.

  • Conspiracy theory (Score:5, Funny)

    by mister_llah (891540) on Sunday December 04 2005, @01:54AM (#14176866) Homepage Journal
    Well, the tower isn't what does it, it is the Earthquake Machine stored in the basement (owned by the United States, of course) that is really behind it.

    ===

    I think my statement is only slightly more farfetched.

  • So it's true then... (Score:5, Funny)

    by the_skywise (189793) on Sunday December 04 2005, @01:55AM (#14176867)
    If you put enough elephants in one place, you can shift the rotation of the planet!

    (This looks like a job for Mythbusters!)

    • Re:So it's true then... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Council (514577) <rmunroe@g[ ]l.com ['mai' in gap]> on Sunday December 04 2005, @02:14AM (#14176930) Homepage
      If you put enough elephants in one place, you can shift the rotation of the planet!

      (This looks like a job for Mythbusters!)

      I once calculated that if you spin around in an office chair, you rob the day of about 10^-35 seconds.

      Of course, that's if you spin counterclockwise. Clockwise slows the earth down and lengthens the day.

      If you wanna be precise, multiply by the sine of your latitude -- on the equator, it has no effect.

      Of course, if you want to be precise, do the calculation yourself. I worked it out a long time ago while sitting in a spinning chair at a long overnight security guard shift. It might've been 1/10^35th of a DAY, or something. It's probably right to within a factor of ten million (10^7) and depends on how fat you are and how you hold your arms and legs.

    • Re:So it's true then... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Quiet_Desperation (858215) on Sunday December 04 2005, @04:08AM (#14177251)
      If you put enough elephants in one place, you can shift the rotation of the planet!

      Or at least the giant turtle they are standing on.

  • Ask Slashdot (Score:5, Funny)

    by karvind (833059) <karvind.gmail@com> on Sunday December 04 2005, @02:18AM (#14176944) Journal
    Phew for a moment I thought it was posted under Ask Slashdot ... *wipes sweat*

  • BBC article (Score:5, Interesting)

    by msbsod (574856) on Sunday December 04 2005, @03:03AM (#14177077)
    BBC brought the story a day earlier, shorter, no "feet" balast and with a bit more details. In particular they mention that the distance of Tapei 101 to the ancient earthquake fault (inactive for 45,000 years) is 200m, and they also point out that some people doubt that the tower is causing earth quake (not that I want to take sides).

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4493360.st m [bbc.co.uk]

  • They Should Have Listened to Me... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Guncrazy (633221) on Sunday December 04 2005, @03:34AM (#14177158)
    ...I told them that building had bad Feng Shui.
  • Breaking News

    Flapping butterfly wings cause Hurricane.

    http://www.pha.jhu.edu/~ldb/seminar/butterfly.html [jhu.edu]

    Bush launches mass pesticide attack, in retalliation for Hurricane Katrina.

  • Induced Seismicity (Score:5, Informative)

    by FuzzyBad-Mofo (184327) * <fuzzybadNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Sunday December 04 2005, @04:41AM (#14177327)

    This is called induced seismicity [wikipedia.org], and I really would be surprised if a mere 700,000 tons could trigger it. It's a real problem with dams and the enormous weight of water in their reservoirs, and no doubt keeps the project managers of the Three Gorges Dam awake at night (the dam is built on a fault line).

    • Re:it may be tall but its not the "largest" (Score:5, Informative)

      by ari_j (90255) on Sunday December 04 2005, @02:38AM (#14177007)
      List of world's tallest structures [wikipedia.org]. The tallest structure is a TV mast in eastern North Dakota. Taipei 101 is the tallest skyscraper unless you count the masts on top of the Sears Tower, and then that one wins out. See this article [wikipedia.org] for more details.

      The Pentagon is the world's largest office building. The largest building by volume is the Boeing plant that manufactures 747's, 767's, and 777's in Washington. The NASA Vehicle Assembly Building is second or third.

      But as far as pressure on the bedrock, I would have no problem accepting that Taipei 101 tops the list. It is an extremely big skyscraper on a relatively very small footprint.

    • Re:Biggest problem (Score:5, Interesting)

      by isd_glory (787646) * on Sunday December 04 2005, @03:06AM (#14177086)
      1. We (America) built many of the original "tallest" skyscrapers.
      2. In order for the rest of the world to remain architecturally competitive, they were forced to build taller and taller buildings.
      3. After a certain point, those tall buildings may eventually cause earthquake resulting in economic damage for that country.

      A rather dastardly plan, eh? ;)

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