On Nov 13, 2005, at 5:01 PM, Nancy Anthracite wrote:
I might point out that unless the welds are done at the right
temperature,
etc., for those bridges that the physicist's calculations will be
for naught
as the bridge will still fall down. The temperature affects the
molecular
structure of the steel and thus the strength of the welds. There
is an
analogy with software development in there somewhere. ;-)
To be sure! But it as never my point to say that construction is
unimportant, but to point out that relying entirely on experience and
trial and error to come up with sound designs is not a good idea,
either -- even if that is generally what we do in software
engineering. Oh, and civil engineers do not always get it right,
either. Certainly they didn't in the case of the Tacoma Narrows
bridge (though in that case, I think the case was a faulty model, not
properly considering the effects of wind and resonance).
===
Gregory Woodhouse
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"A hero is no braver than an ordinary
man, but he is brave five minutes longer."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
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