demolition Archive

    Eiffel Fell

    Sunday, September 20th, 2009

    Since the majority of the tower is stacked in the center, the bulk of the weight is resting on the inner cards. This can be demonstrated by removing the outer two cards, and here you will see a rare occurrence, which has just two cards holding such a great deal.

    We could probably have removed two cards from each of the four corners, but I was worried about the direction it would eventually fall. Even more astounding is that when the tower starts to fall, it does not all come crashing down.

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    Great wall of cards

    Thursday, September 10th, 2009

    In order to build more complex card structures, I wanted to show some of the possibilities by building a simple card wall. There isn’t much to see in the actual stacking of the wall, rather in the demolition we try to see how many cards can be removed before the inevitable. This gives you an idea of how we don’t always have to have cards underneath (like in the pyramid).

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    Mayan Pyramid

    Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

    In attempting to build card structures that (somewhat) resemble real buildings, I have started by doing the exercises found in the only book on the topic. I will create my own structures later (put your requests in early), but for now it is important to learn the basics.

    The easiest shape to create when card stacking is a pyramid-like structure, and with the proper icing on the cake you get the idea that this could be the pyramid in tikal.

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    Falling Down

    Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

    You would be surprised at how strong and how sturdy a house of cards, or in this case a tower of cards, can be. A properly built structure, once completed, can withstand a small gust of wind, I will try to demonstrate this in future.

    For now, I will just reinforce what you believe is true, that the house will fall when too much force is given.

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    And in dramatic fashion.

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