Film Science Questions for: Modern Marvels: The Eiffel Tower

Background: it would be hard to find an image that is more French, more Parisian, than the Eiffel Tower. Beyond that, the Tower is a masterful example of advanced fabrication and construction techniques. Visit the DVD's accompanying website at:

http://www.historychannel.com/classroom/admin/study_guide/archives/thc_guide.0088.html

1. What is the connection between the construction of bridges and of the Eiffel Tower?

2. The Tower was intended to celebrate France's participation in what new age?

3. The entire Tower is constructed essentially of what three construction elements riveted together?

4. How many 12 ton cranes operated during the tower's construction?

5. A length of rope dangling from one of the 12 ton construction cranes holds up a 250 kg piece of iron

girder. Find the tension in the rope if the system is:

a) motionless b) ascending at a smooth 2.5 m/s

c) accelerating up at 1.3 m/s² d) descending at 0.6 m/s².

6. Tourists wanting to touch the sky provided Eiffel with what income in the year after the Tower's completion?

7. The cage of an elevator has a mass of 1 400 kg while the counterweight is 1 045 kg. Find the acceleration of the system and the tension in the wire rope joining the cage and counterweight.

8. A 375 kg pile of iron scrap sits on a grease covered platform and is connected by a rope to a 90 kg piece of iron hanging over the edge of the platform. If the µ is 0.9, find the system's acceleration and the tension in the rope connecting the two masses of iron.

9. By 1917, what was the focus of Eiffel's scientific investigations?

10. What emerging technology saved the Tower form its planned demolition in 1909?

11. How did the French Resistance endanger the Tower near the end of World War II?

12. Why is an elevator an example of an Atwood Machine?

13. The lower bank of elevators ascend at what angle?

14. One of the Tower's 360 lamps is supported on a wire slung between two iron posts. The left hand segment of wire angles up at 30⁰ while the right hand segment angles up at 40⁰. If the lamp is 30 kg, find the tension in the two segments of wire.

15. The clam shell dredge cable can withstand 10 000 N. If it is accelerated up at 1.2 m/s², what total weight can it lift?

16. A 200 kg platform hangs from a cable that can withstand 8 000 N. If the cable is accelerated up at 2.4 m/s², what weight of bricks can be placed on the platform?

17. What paint pigment accentuates the Tower's atmosphere of lightness and romance during night time lighting?

18. A horse team moving up a 7⁰ slope where the is 0.8 pulls with 8 000 N on a 40 kg sled loaded with 500 kg of wire spools. What happens to the sled and its load?

19. In general, what is the morale of the Tower's workers?

20. How does the Tower glorify science?