One of the architectural landmarks of the capital of Taiwan, the Taipei 101 skyscraper, withstood the strong earthquake that occurred a few days ago, and was stabilized by a special built-in pendulum during the natural disaster.
The Taipei 101 Tower, at 500 metres, was the world's tallest building from late 2004 to 2010, when it was surpassed by Dubai's Burj Khalifa, at 828 metres.
Inside the skyscraper is a suspended steel ball weighing 730 tons, the main purpose of which is to dampen minor tremors and swaying caused by the wind. The last time it protected the building was in September 2022, during a 6.8-magnitude earthquake — at which time the huge crowd was captured on video swaying.
In modern buildings, many solutions are used to protect against the effects of earthquakes. For example, diagonal arches are installed, or foundations are built on a structure that moves independently of the ground. In the case of Taipei 101, an engineering solution based on simple physics was used with apparent success.
Taiwan is located on the so-called Ring of Fire on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean, where earthquakes and volcanic activity are frequent due to the movement of tectonic plates. The last time Taiwan witnessed earthquakes with a similar force to last Wednesday's quake was 25 years ago, when a block of small buildings collapsed. This event has claimed 10 lives so far.
(Futurism)
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