Appleseeds articles from April 2009

Appleseeds archives from April 2009

How did he build that?!(card stacker Bryan Berg)(Cover story)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] How did he build that?! is a question to ask Bryan Berg, world-record-holding card stacker. Berg holds the Guinness World Record for the World's Tallest House of Cards (1992) and the World's Largest House of Cards...

Watts Towers: "something big".(Sabato Rodia)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Sabato Rodia wanted to "do something big." So the tiny man from Italy collected wire, cement, broken plates, bottles, and seashells and built towers reaching into the sky around his California home. The towers...

Amazing sandcastles.
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Snakes slither among scary skeletons. Knights on horseback ride out from tall, turreted castles. Clowns laugh, surrounded by fire-breathing dragons, mythical monsters, and beautiful, long-haired princesses. No,...

Is it a guitar? Is it a ship? No, it's a building!(Architect Frank Gehry's unusually shaped buildings)
April 1, 2009... Take a look at the buildings you see around you every day. Most of them are square or rectangular, with straight lines and right angles, right? Now imagine a building that looks like a squashed electric guitar, or a man and a woman dancing...

Building the longest, tallest, fastest scream machines.
April 1, 2009... YOUR HEART RACES. You stood in line for hours to ride the new monster coaster. Now, you're being strapped in and warned to keep your hands and arms inside the car at all times. A thought crosses your mind as you are launched out of the station:...

Dome sweet dome.
April 1, 2009... Domes have been called "the kings of all roofs. " Maybe that's because they look like crowns on top of buildings. Domes certainly are marvels of construction. Without the help of a single post to hold them up, they are some of the strongest...

Animal architects.
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Everybody needs a home. Homes protect us from weather and keep us safe and comfortable. Animals are no exception. Humans live in a wide variety of structures. Around the world, people have designed and built...

Scraping the sky in Burj Dubai.
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The race is on! Where is the world's tallest skyscraper? As of September 2008, it was in Taiwan. The skyscraper is called Taipei 101. But there is a competitor gaining the lead. Four thousand miles away, in the...

It's all, about the cables.(Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] You've probably known the nursery rhyme about London Bridge falling down ever since you were a toddler. In fact, the original London Bridge did wash away once. That bridge was replaced with one built of stone. (Today...

How to be a cable-stayed bridge!(Your Turn)
April 1, 2009... To understand how this kind of bridge works, try the following exercise. You'll need a piece of string about 5 feet long, and a friend. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Stand up and hold your arms out straight out to the sides. Your arms are...

Move dirt, add water: building a water park.
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Whoosh! Splash! You finish an exciting water park ride and scramble up to go again. You're lucky: There are about 1,000 water parks in North America, and more are being built each year. QUESTION: What does it...

Riding the waves.(wave pool)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 5-4-3-2-1... The buzzer sounds! The waves are coming! A wave pool is a huge swimming pool with waves--a little bit like the ocean! Usually, wave pools are 4 to 5 feet deep at the deep end. They gradually...

It's a candy world after all.(From the Apple Corps)
April 1, 2009... What if toy race cars and racetracks were built with 'candy? And what if they really worked? Wouldn't they be fun to make and play with? After four or five tries, I successfully built a candy car and racetrack. (My first few tries included a...

Digging down ... and under and through: amazing tunnels.(Big Dig and the English Channel)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] People have long been fascinated by tunnels; there is something almost magical about going underground in one place and coming up in another. We have learned to use tunnels to make transportation easier. Engineers...

You be the architect!(CONTEST CORNER)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Think you can design a great building? Well, here's your chance! Design a house that you'd love to live in. What kinds of special features would you like to have? What would it be made of? Would it look ordinary, or...