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Watch a typhoon move a 720-ton steel ball suspended atop a skyscraper

Published Aug 13th, 2015 2:41PM EDT
Typhoon Moving Skyscraper Mass Damper Video
Image: Screenshot

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What happens when a horrendous typhoon like Soudelor hits land? We’ve seen already that the typhoon’s winds are strong enough to lift Boeing 747 airplanes off the ground. And now a new video shows the typhoon is powerful enough to move a 720-ton steel ball (let’s call it a mass damper) suspended atop of a skyscraper (let’s call it Taipei 101, one of the world’s tallest buildings, measuring 1,651 feet).

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This particular ball is suspended between the 87th and 92nd floors and has a diameter of 18 feet. Its mission is simple: To prevent the top of the building from moving in any direction when high winds are blowing at the base of it, or during strong earthquakes.

Well, the top of the building does move even with a mass damper in place, but humans shouldn’t even perceive it, as the massive weight of the steel sphere counteracts the building’s movement.

Typhoon Soudelor blew so strong that it set a new record for the most extreme movement of a mass damper. The wind moved the steel ball by more than three feet, which is a lot more than what it would usually move.

A video showing Taipei 101’s crazy mass damper movements as Soudelor hit the country follows below – more details about how this skyscraper technology works are available from Popular Mechanics and The New York Times.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.