(upbeat music)
(loud explosion)
- Have you seen a
demolition company blow up
a skyscraper without affecting any
of the other buildings around it?
Obviously science and explosive are used
to control a collapse,
but how exactly do you demolish a building
so that it falls inward?
Well, the trick here is
to implode the building
rather than explode it.
This way, it collapses
down to its footprint,
that's the area defined by the
perimeter of its structure.
An implosion only takes a few seconds,
but the preparation to
get it right takes years.
The people who control building demolition
have a pretty cool job title, blasters.
Before any of the explodey
stuff happens though,
the blasters have crews take
out non-load bearing walls
and weaken support columns.
And, of course, before
loading the explosives,
the blasters have to decide what type
and how much to use.
There's all kinds of explosives
used on different materials,
but let's boil it down to
two of the most common,
dynamite and RDX.
Good old dynamite is basically
an absorbent stuffing,
like a pillow that's been
soaked in combustible chemicals
so that it burns really quickly.
It's usually used on concrete columns,
stuffed into bore holes
that have been drilled.
The resulting outward
pressure is so immense
that it creates a shockwave
that shatters the concrete.
But when a building's got steel columns,
that's when we break out the RDX.
It can expand up to
27,000 feet per second.
Its explosions can slice through steel,
splitting beams in half.
So, the blasters decide how to position
their explosives of choice
through the building.
The blasters clear the surrounding area
because for reals, some
human people actually try
to sneak closer for a better view.
Then, the blasters sound sirens warning
of the imminent detonation three times
before they charge the lead
line and push the fire button.
Then, kablamo, the
building collapses inward.
Generally, blasters set it
up so that when columns blow,
the sides fall toward the center,
crashing against each other.
Usually, this begins with
the major support columns
on the lower floors,
as well as a few on the upper stories.
The weight of the higher floors falling
causes most of the damage.
It's gravity that really
brings the building down.
So, I've gotta ask, have you
ever seen a building implosion?
Tell us all about in the comments below.
And for more explosive
entertainment, yeah, yeah,
see what I, don't forget to
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