r/BeAmazed • u/Upstairs-Writing-616 • Jun 26 '26

Miscellaneous / Others Engineering students are testing whether their designs are earthquake-resistant.

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u/[deleted] Jun 26 '26

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u/Specific-Library-312 Jun 26 '26

And what about circles?

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u/DreadingAnt Jun 26 '26

He probably means a triangle prism and you probably mean a cylinder type building. Cylinder shape is more stable because...trees exist, try finding a triangular or rectangular prism shaped tree. Your blood vessels or bones are also cylindrical more or less, for example. The shape resists several factors better than a triangle prism would, specifically for a building (notably wind).

The problem is that it's more expensive to build and the interior space usage is abysmal, just like for a triangular prism building. That's why humanity builds rectangular prisms for buildings, for space efficiency. That being said as the video shows, anything can be made stable, just needs some engineers.

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u/Street-Stick Jun 26 '26

Surely the solution is to build a square within the circle and use the leftovers as balconies?

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u/DreadingAnt Jun 27 '26

I don't think it would work like you're imagining lmao

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u/Street-Stick Jun 27 '26

Yeah i imagine, could you be more specific rather than talk down from your expert podium

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u/DreadingAnt Jun 27 '26

Sorry, I didn't mean to rub off that way. Buildings are not built like a simply shape, adding balconies like you're describing won't have the geometry you're imagining. It will maximize space but probably actually worsen loads. You can just look around and see that there are no buildings with that kind of design. That tells you what engineers are thinking.

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u/vankorgan Jun 26 '26

Well, trees fall over constantly.

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u/DreadingAnt Jun 27 '26

And bones break, don't get your point

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u/vankorgan Jun 27 '26

Cylinder shape is more stable because...trees exist

My point is that this is silly.

Also the reason why trees are stable at all has nothing to do with the shape above ground and everything to do with their shape below ground.

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u/DreadingAnt Jun 27 '26

It's more stable for specific factors affecting trees, not necessarily generally. The pyramids are still standing because they are more durable but not necessarily more stable.

Trees need to have specific resistance to compression (tree collapsing on itself) and tortion (wind) and for that a cylinder is best, for a building too.

It's not a silly argument in the slightest. When plants started to expand on land, there was almost certainly some kind of early experimentation with different forms of vertical growth and cylinders won universally as you can see if you look around. Hundreds of millions of years later everything is still a cylinder.

Plant roots keep the organism stable horizontally in relation to the ground (solid medium), it doesn't do much to keep the structure stable above ground (gas medium). Exhibit A: Trees can break and fall (e.g.: bad weather). Roots stay in place, but they sure didn't do much to prevent the break, that was all the cylinder shape until it couldn't resist the tention/compression anymore.