The video above from Sabins Civil Engineering promises to disclose “the MAGIC behind Da Vinci’s Self Supporting Bridge.” That seems like a typical examinationple of YouTube hyperbole, although on first look, it isn’t in any respect obvious how the fragile-looking structure can keep up, a lot much less support the burden of a crossing military. Not solely does the design use no permanent joints, says the narrator, “the extra weight on the bridge, the stronger it turns into.” The secret’s the distinctive manner wherein the items interlock, and the way it directs power to create a “friction lock” that ensures stability.
Take away only one piece of the bridge, however, and all of it comes crashing down, which is extra feature than bug: designed to facilitate troop transferments, the structure might be dismantled to prevent use by the enemy much more easily than it was put up within the first place.
Simply one of many various instruments of warfare Leonardo got here up with, this bridge was conceived beneath the patronage of the well-known statesman Cesare Borgia (a chief inspiration for Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince), who employed him as an architect and military engineer within the early fifteen-hundreds.
Although Leonardo’s bridge designs have confirmed influential within the half-millennium since his demise — consider him subsequent time you cross the Galata Bridge in Istanbul — no evidence stays that he ever constructed one in his lifetime. However in contrast to most of his inventions, actualized or theoretical, you possibly can construct it yourself right this moment without a lot difficulty. The video presents an examinationple massive sufficient to stroll throughout, which can make it really feel somewhat much less stable than it actually is. Luckily for students looking to beneathstand the self-supporting bridge in a hands-on manner, the identical engineering principles apply simply as properly on the extra manageready scale of popsicle sticks — a modern constructing material at which Leonardo himself would positively have marveled.
Related content:
The Ingenious Inventions of Leonardo da Vinci Recreated with 3D Animation
Leonardo da Vinci Attracts Designs of Future Battle Machines: Tanks, Machine Weapons & Extra
Based mostly in Seoul, Colin Marshall writes and broadcasts on cities, language, and culture. His initiatives embrace the Substack newsletter Books on Cities and the ebook The Statemuch less Metropolis: a Stroll via Twenty first-Century Los Angeles. Follow him on the social webwork formerly often known as Twitter at @colinmarshall.
