Why don't bridges fall down?
Bridge Magic Trick
Why don't bridges fall down?
You're standing on a bridge, tons of metal or concrete holding you — and hundreds of cars — high above a river. It should collapse under all that weight, shouldn't it? But it doesn't. Bridges have been standing for thousands of years, some carrying entire trains. What's the trick?
The secret is that bridges don't actually hold up weight the way you hold up a heavy box. They're not using muscle. Instead, they redirect the pushing force of weight — they send it somewhere else. Your weight pushes down, but the bridge cleverly turns that push into a different direction, sending the force into the ground where the earth can handle it.
