Have you ever seen a water bridge over a river? Here it is. Pretty cool!
Even after you see it, it's still hard to believe! What a feat! Six years to build, 500 million Euros and 918 meters long... now that's engineering! This is a channel bridge over the river Elbe that joins East and West Germany, as part of the unification project. Located in the city of Magdeburg, near Berlin, the photo was taken on the day of the inauguration a few years ago.
Here's a puzzle for you armchair engineers and physicists..
Question:
Did that bridge have to be designed to withstand the additional weight of the ship and barge traffic or just the weight of the water?
Answer:
It only needs to be designed to withstand the weight of the water. Why? A ship always displaces an amount of water that weighs the same as the ship, regardless of how heavily laden a ship may be.
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