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cover of episode How does the earth support heavy buildings?

How does the earth support heavy buildings?

2025/5/13
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Moment of Um
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A
Anna Weigel
J
Jasper Cavanaugh
R
Rona Cox
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Anna Weigel: 帝国大厦是一个宏伟的建筑，重达365,000吨，相当于超过54,000头大象的重量。这引发了一个问题，地球是如何支撑如此巨大的建筑物的？ Jasper Cavanaugh: 我想知道地球是如何支撑像帝国大厦这样非常重的建筑物的。地球的地壳实际上非常厚，大约有20英里厚。 Rona Cox: 大家好，我是Rona Cox。从地质学的角度来看，地球的地壳相对于地球的大小来说是非常厚的。你可以想象地球像一个橘子，橘子皮上有小疙瘩。地球表面的山脉比橘子皮上的疙瘩还要小。因此，帝国大厦虽然看起来很大很重，但与地球的大小和地壳的厚度相比，它实际上非常小，地球几乎感觉不到它的存在。但是，如果建筑物不是建在坚固的基岩上，而是建在松软的沉积物上，比如泥土、泥浆或沙子上，那么建筑物可能会下沉。这就像在泥泞中建造乐高城堡一样，城堡会沉下去。比萨斜塔倾斜的原因就是因为它没有建在坚固的岩石上，而是建在不稳定的地基上。

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Did you know the tallest building in the world is a skyscraper in Dubai called the Burj Khalifa? It has 163 floors and weighs as much as 100,000 elephants! But how can the Earth even support such a huge building?! Why doesn’t the ground just collapse underneath it? We asked geologist Rónadh Cox to help us find the answer.

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