4. Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse (1940)
The first Tacoma Narrows Bridge was a suspension bridge in Washington state that opened in 1940 and collapsed at the same year. At the time of its construction, the bridge was the world’s third longest suspension bridge, by main span length. The bridge was known to move vertically in windy conditions, and in November 7, 1940, under 40 mph (64 km/h) winds it collapsed. The collapse was caught on video and made an impact on science and engineering, especially bridge designing till today. The cause of failure was aeroelastic flutter – a dynamic instability of an elastic structure.
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