RE: Forrester Research foresees death of firewalls

[Doug Hughes <Doug.Hughes () Eng Auburn EDU>]

> As for bridge building -- seeing that one bridge in WA turn into the largest
> physical example of a standing wave I've ever come across and subsequently
> tumble into whatever river it was spanning should be enough of a reason to
> justify putting a bit of thought into proper bridge design.  If there are
> any engineers out there I'm sure they've seen the film I'm referring to :)

Tacoma Narrows. Classic film clip. Bouncing betty I believe they called
her. Most films on the folly of human engineering have a clip on
bouncing betty. Unfortunately the wind through the gap managed to vibrate
the suspension of the bridge at its resonance frequency. Natural
resonance is a dangerous thing: one of the reasons that marching infantry
are forced to break step when crossing a bridge. Good thing firewalls
don't have a resonance frequency or we'd all be in deep guano.

--
DOug