Leaning Tower of Pisa

Probably the most well-known example of land subsidence is the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy, shown in Figure 16.3. Over the years, as groundwater has been withdrawn to supply the growing city, the tilt of the tower has increased. 

The Leaning Tower of Pisa, built centuries ago, slowly acquired a deviation from the vertical of about 4.6 meters as a result of groundwater withdrawal. The towers foundation has been stabilized by groundwater withdrawal management, and the tower should remain stable for years to come. 

Figure 13. Structure of the famous leaning Tower of Pisa. Note that the packing is also identical to that found in LC cylinder morphology with a smectic mes-ophase in the LC domain. The tower represents the cylinder microdomain and the columns represent meso-gens which are packed in a layer structure like the SmA phase.

Solution 9.3. Besides experiments conducted by Galileo from the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Newton measured particle terminal velocities by dropping hog bladders from St. Paul s Cathedral. Galileo used his heart beat as a timer In this example, the water balloon is assumed to be spherical (which is probably inaccurate because the balloon will deform to achieve the lowest drag). The... 

Figure 1.1. (a) Eiffel tower in Paris http //www.intermac.co.uk/homepage/photographs/placed/paris/ effieltower.jpg). (b) Leaning tower of Pisa http //hwlaartgallery.com/photo%20Album.htm). 

FIGURE 19-5 The famous Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy shows the importance of geotechnical engineering. 

A5. As shown by the Leaning Tower of Pisa, towers that do not have a proper footing can develop a significant lean. Even if a distillation tower is structurally sound, leaning away from being vertical affects the operation. What is likely to go wrong for a tray tower if it leans ... 

As I write this, I have just returned from a client s plant. The stack on one of their heaters reminded me of the leaning tower of Pisa in Italy. The fuel gas to this heater sometimes has up to 10 percent hydrogen sulfide, with a stack temperature as low as 500°F. Sulfuric acid attacked the base of the stack and undermined its structural integrity. 

Galileo Galilei, 1564-1642, was a great Italian mathematician and physicist. He refuted the assertion of Aristotle that a heavier object should fall faster than a lighter one and Is said to have dropped two balls of different masses from the leaning tower of Pisa to demonstrate that they fell at the same rate. He supported the hypothesis of Copernicus that the earth revolves around the sun and was convicted of heresy In 1633 by the Roman Catholic Church for this belief. He spent the rest of his life under house arrest. 

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was an Italian scientist and professor of mathematics at Pisa. Only those who have visited Pisa are able to appreciate the inspiration (for studying the free fall of bodies of different materials) from the incredibly leaning tower. Galileo s opus magnum (right-hand side) was published by Elsevier in 1638. 

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