Skyscraper Taipei 101′s amazing 728-ton stabilizing ball

I’m not so good in Physics so laws of gravity and motion leave me dumbfounded, but when an earthquake occurred in China’s Sichuan province, tremors were felt for miles, including in Taipei 101 in Taiwan. The Physics part comes in when the world’s largest ‘tuned mass damper’; the stabilizing ball for the building, began moving to stabilize the building. Instead of vacating the building YouTube user Phuaalvin stayed back and took this video, have a look and get astounded by Physics.

Apparently the Taipei 101 sits just over 600ft from a major fault line, hence engineers had to install a ball of this size at a cost of $4m. Too heavy to be lifted by crane, the damper was assembled on site and hangs through 4 floors of the skyscraper. It can reduce the building’s movement by up to 40%.




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