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    The Leaning Tower of Pisa began construction in 1173 but started tilting before its third story was finished due to its engineer failing to account for the soft sand and clay foundation that could not properly support the tower's 185-foot height and 16,000 ton weight. Over the centuries, the tower continued sinking further into the unstable ground and leaning more until late 20th century engineers intervened by removing soil from the north side to help counterbalance the lean, reducing it by over 15 inches.

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    The Leaning Tower of Pisa began construction in 1173 but started tilting before its third story was finished due to its engineer failing to account for the soft sand and clay foundation that could not properly support the tower's 185-foot height and 16,000 ton weight. Over the centuries, the tower continued sinking further into the unstable ground and leaning more until late 20th century engineers intervened by removing soil from the north side to help counterbalance the lean, reducing it by over 15 inches.

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    23 views1 page

    Leaning Tower of Pisa

    Uploaded by

    Seet Seow Hwee
    The Leaning Tower of Pisa began construction in 1173 but started tilting before its third story was finished due to its engineer failing to account for the soft sand and clay foundation that could not properly support the tower's 185-foot height and 16,000 ton weight. Over the centuries, the tower continued sinking further into the unstable ground and leaning more until late 20th century engineers intervened by removing soil from the north side to help counterbalance the lean, reducing it by over 15 inches.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
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    LEANING TOWER OF PISA!

    Construction of the tower began in 1173.

    Began to tilt even before its 3rd storey was finished.

    Engineer Bonnanno Pisano failed to consider the consequences of designing a 185-foot tall tower
    with a ten-foot thick foundation.

    Base rests on soft sand, rubble, clay, which is not firm enough for a 16000 ton tower.

    To make up for the tilt, builders made each new tier a little taller on the short side, but each
    additional stone only made tower sink more.

    When completed in 1350, tower leaned 4 feet and 7 inches from vertical.

    Weight of bells caused structure to tilt even further.

    By late 20th century, the tower was leaning more than 17 feet toward the south

    Thus, engineers removed soil under the north side of the tower to even out the differences in
    foundation.

    Now, the lean is reduced by more than 15 inches.

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