This is one of the most famous monuments in the world, Paris is a symbolWhich attracts millions of tourists every year. A Eiffel Tower It looks like a lighthouse that catches everyone in the French capital and, although it is well known, keeps a secret from which not everyone knows: A Eiffel Tower Change sizeField
This does not mean that the number of steps that he has is obvious: in general, There are 1665 steps from the base to the top “Although visitors can only go to the second floor, so“ only ”rises to 674 steps. This number is incurable in winter and summer. But, indeed, in fact, This tower is “growing” Every time the summer period begins.
How is it possible that a huge metal tower changes its size? The answer in the phenomenon known as Thermal dilatationThe field is not, not only Eiffel Tower experiences this summer “growth”.
Why Eiffel Tower increases its size
He Efelian tower This is due to the physical process that affects materials such as iron and called thermal dilatation. Thermal dilatation makes the Eiffel Tower expand with heatThe field in summer high temperatures can lead to an increase in the height of the tower between 12 and 15 centimeters.
This phenomenon also gives a tower of a certain Flexibility Adapt to natural forces. IN winterThe opposite occurs: Cooling makes a contract with a tower And return to your usual height. In addition to changes in height, the unequal effect of the sun can make The tower leans slightly to the opposite side In the sun, although this curvature is temporary and does not affect its stability.
A Eiffel Tower consists of 7300 tons of inflatingwhich contributes to its stability and reliability. This amount of material was collected using More than 2.5 million rivetsHe is a field Smooth iron It is characterized by more stable and less fragile than other types of iron, which makes it ideal to support large loads and tension.
Pudelación consisted of Descartes obtained from high furnace in a reflective oven using oxidative slag. This procedure allowed to get in large quantities of a product known as the replaced iron, which became The main material in the construction of metal structures and bridges For a significant part of the nineteenth century in Europe.
Nevertheless, the improvement of converters and oven Martin-Siemens, which works using an open house and is based on heat regeneration, caused an air Replaced by steel since the beginning of the 20th centuryField
Science behind thermal dilatation
A Thermal dilatation This is how it is known that the materials expand when heated and compressed when cooling. This is because with an increase in temperature, Particles in the materials vibrate more intensively and separate, increasing the volume of materialField
He Linear dilatation coefficient This is crucial in industrial design and the construction of large structures, as it helps to anticipate and Control as materials They expand or contract with temperature changes.
An example of the importance of this physical phenomenon was found in railway railsthat they are cooked with each other and can have a length of several hundred meters. If the temperature rises significantly, the railway moves from the dilatation effect, completely deforming the layout. To minimize this effect, the strip is artificially stretched by hydraulic cats, creating dilatation, equivalent to natural dilatation, which will occur during thermal dilatation until the average temperature reaches, and the excess will not be cut to overestimate it. This process is known as Neutralization of tensionField
In the case Eiffel TowerThermal dilatation is also significant. The inflated iron has a thermal dilatation coefficient close to 12 x 10⁻⁶ (° C) ⁻. This means that Iron bar one meter long will have an increase by 12 micrometers (12 x 10⁻⁶ meters) for each degree of Celsius (ºC) of high temperature.
The history of the Eiffel Tower, maintenance and safety
A Eiffel Tower was developed for the universal exhibition of 1889 in Paris Engineer Gustav Aiffel. At first, this was the subject of contradictions, since some critics considered this a monster that covered in the Parisian landscapeNevertheless, its impressive height of about 300 meters and its innovative structure ultimately turned it into Symbol of modernity And in the masterpiece of engineering.
So much that it was born like A The temporary project eventually became not only a constant monumentBut the symbol of the city. Although this also happened with others: the Brussels atomium was built for the 1958 universal exhibition. Crystal Palace or London Eye is added to them.
On his inauguration Eiffel Tower was the highest building in the worldThe name that was supported until 1930. Today there are many structures that exceed this height, even an unknown Spanish unknown, such as Guardamar del Segura Torretaradio antenna in 1962, 380 meters high, which makes it not only the highest on the Iberian peninsula, but also Also from the European Union: Until 2021, it was a Belmont transmitter (385 meters), radio and a television tower installed in Lincolnshire, but Leaving from the UK from the EU He placed the Spaniards on top.
To guarantee its stability, Eiffel Tower has been subjected to periodic reviews every seven yearsWhere its components are checked in search of wear or corrosion and anti -corrosion treatment. This service is necessary to ensure that the differences in the size and form from the thermal dilatation do not jeopardize the safety of the structure.
