How tall can a Lego tower get? (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Ruth Alexander
BBC News

It's not just children who like to build towers with Lego - the internet is alive with discussion on how many Lego bricks, stacked one on top of the other, it would take to destroy the bottom brick. So what's the answer?

There has been a burning debate on the social news website Reddit.

It's a trivial question you might think, but one the Open University's engineering department has - at the request of the BBC's More or Less programme - fired up its labs to try to answer.

"It's an exciting thing to do because it's an entirely new question and new questions are always interesting," says Dr Ian Johnston, an applied mathematician and lecturer in engineering.

Looking on the internet, he expected to find the answer, but was surprised to find only a lot of speculation.

Perhaps that's because not everyone who has pondered the question has ready access to a hydraulic testing machine.



***
more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20578627

[Gregorian]

1. I saw that this morning. Guessed the answer to within 50 pounds.

What do I win?

[Voice for Peace]

2. ooh

[sakabatou]

4. A Lego tower of Babel

That's what we need!

[intaglio]

5. Been done

The Brick Testament

[sakabatou]

6. But not on the scale of what this article is talking about

[krispos42]

7. Over two miles? Nice... n/t

[morningfog]

8. But that isn't the actual answer to the OP headline question.

A lego tower could never actually get that high, not by stacking one lego on top of the other. It would have the be a stronger design as to not tilt and fall.

They found out how many legos one lego could support, but not how tall a lego tower can be.

Cool article, either way.