Concrete Crusher Vs. Concrete Is As Entertaining As You’d Expect

@Lite: is on a boat.: and to make it even more interesting, a 2x4 is actually 1.5"x3.5"

wishnias

@Gann: bingo. also, there's a chance it'd be 25.4x outta scale, I see a lot of shop drawings from Euro companies that are mm standard.

wishnias

@TheSonOfKrypton: Ok, how about this: the construction codes are written in Imperial here (with SI in parenthesis). Same with tech specs and product guides. It's not that anyone's actively holding anything back, it's just that since this is the way things have been done here for so long the industry is resistant to change, i.e. the inertia I mentioned earlier. failed once already, didn't it?

wishnias

@Deep-Blue: Many of these big testing machines are very old, like 50+ years. They don't spend on stuff like that for universities nowadays. Old machines are more likely to use old units.

Even back in the 1980's when I went to college we used SI units exclusively. Then again, I was ECE not CE. The Civil Engineers tended to be a bit reactionary.

MykePagan

I went to Lehigh University back in the mid-1980's. One night, I'm studying in my room when all of a sudden it feels like the frat house lifted up a few inches and just DROPPED, with a deep thump. My roommate and I looked at each other. Earthquake? A Civil Eng. student next door shouts out: "Fritz Labs catastrophic failure." He was right. Some sample in the 5 million pound testing machine (same thing as the video, but bigger... supposedly the largest in the world at the time) had snapped without warning. Turned on the radio, and the Allentown PA stations 6-7 miles away were going on about how what everyone felt was not an earthquake.

From that point on I (a computer engineering student) stopped making fun of the Civil Engineering students.

MykePagan

@PeterNincompoop: ILL

BSCE 1995

tomboygirl

@wishnias: i agree with this, but i think the US should switch over to metric gradually. we had to use some US textbooks for a systems dynamics course once. i pity you guys.

ninjajazza

i'd have to assume that crushing is the least efficient way to destroy concrete. the damn stuff's made to resist huge compression forces.

ninjajazza

@TheSonOfKrypton: what? how are imperial units hard to understand AT ALL?!? just follow the flowchart, and all your measurements can be simplified to poppyseeds and points!

Schools at the very least should teach children both systems of measurement, so that by the time the states are ready to make the switch, the children (who've by now grown up and died), the children's grandchildren will know what to do.

it also has the added benefit of letting US graduates travel to other countries and work there.

psychiccheese

@TheSonOfKrypton:
They should have used stone! LOL GET IT!?

SirDrinksalot

@TheSonOfKrypton: I get the feeling this whole thing started so you could tell everyone you studied mechanical engineering.

@midwestkel: Are you an engineering grad? No? Then it WOULD be the most boring comment string you've ever read. Go read a comment string where idiots jump through hoops in a bid to entertain you....Go on....

This was the most boring comment string I have read in my life...

@TheSonOfKrypton:University of Illinois is ranked 6th this year, I believe, for Mechanical Engineering over all (BS/MS/PhD). We've fluctuated a bit, but consider that UIUC is keeping up/competing with MIT, Berkley, and Stanford. MSU isn't even ranked in the top 20 for mechanical. Sorry to say.

Anyway, everyone has already explained the reason for Imperial units, but also having seen this thing myself, it has both Imperial and SI unit outputs. Given that our government and thus construction companies use Imperial, it is more common in this application. We're taught both, but I think SI is unanimously preferred (but unfortunately not always an option).

I didn't even need to read the article to recognize that giant press. I watched a really awesome composite get compressively demolished in there. It was sick.

I-surf-tropic_Storms

@TheSonOfKrypton:University of Illinois is ranked 6th this year, I believe, for Mechanical Engineering over all (BS/MS/PhD). We've dropped a bit, but we're keeping up/competing with MIT, Berkley, and Stanford. MSU isn't even ranked in the top 20 for mechanical. Sorry to say.

Anyway, everyone has already explained the reason for Imperial units, but also having seen this thing myself, it has both Imperial and SI unit outputs. Given that our government and thus construction companies use Imperial, it is more common in this application. We're taught both, but I think SI is unanimously preferred.

I didn't even need to read the article to recognize that giant press. I watched a really awesome composite get compressively demolished in there. It was sick.

I-surf-tropic_Storms

I work in that building and that machine is 3 floors high! It's also used for impact testing and when that happens, the whole building shakes! Very cool!

UptonPraeconinus

@Yinzers Are Celebrating the Stanley Cup: In which case you are the perfect candidate for the Jackass movies.

Kevin Johnson

@TheSonOfKrypton: Problem is, since the engineers in question here are obviously structural, they will be using imperial units in practice. It is amazingly confusing to design in one set of units and build/draw said building in another unit system. The DOTs tried just what you say years ago, they went back to using imperial. Nobody builds in SI in this country and nobody is going to start.

@Lite: is on a boat.: Not just lumber, pretty much all building materials in the US are manufactured to Imperial units. The same goes with construction equipment (much like the auto industry). Retooling an entire industry (or two) would be quite expensive.

Of course, I would use SI if it were an option...

My gosh, it just kinda pushed through. I was expecting it to raise up and slam down on it, or go jackhammer on it. But no. Like a finger through butter.....

This thing could break Superman.

@TheSonOfKrypton:I took my CS one summer at a community college (easy A!), so that might explain it. Also I was having trouble splitting my focus between these comments and my Potbelly sandwich...sandwich wins every time.

PeterNincompoop

@TheSonOfKrypton: In that case, you should probably build a robot for converting Imperial units into SI specifically for civil engineers. It could be called Calculon, and it would achieve far more than rants on the blogs of tech writers frequented by the likes of me.

@Lite: is on a boat.: In HQ and at full screen, you can see the shield that is in place.

MichaelS

@PeterNincompoop: HAHAHAHAHAHAhA. Dude, did you have to take ONE computer engineering class as well? I took that class and for the whole semester was wondering "WTF IS THIS!? WHY AM I IN HERE!?"

But now I want to start programming iPhone apps....Go figure.

@TheSonOfKrypton:My funny comment was going to be a picture of an Illinois shirt wearing calvin peeing on MSU...but U of I didn't teach me good enough computer skills apparently.

PeterNincompoop

@Lite: is on a boat.: lmao, sorry man, I was referring to Michigan State University. And I graduated Mechanical Engineering, so I know nothing about their Civil Engineering program. Regardless, I was speaking of a problem (SI Units vs. Imperial Units) that is present in ALL forms of engineering. Not just civil.

@TheSonOfKrypton: Well, the construction industry probably uses the measurement system that the city wants to use, and the city has laws that are measured in Imperial, not metric.

So, if you're a construction company, and the laws you have to conform to are in Imperial, why would you build using a different system doing conversions, and then take the risk that you fuck up a conversion and a building collapses?

Hell, even NASA has lost craft due to poor Metric/Imperial conversions.

@PeterNincompoop: LMAO. Touche friend.

@Lite: is on a boat.: I never put the family jewels in harms way.

@PeterNincompoop:

FYI my "funny comment" had to do with an Illinois shirt wearing Calvin peeing on MSU...hilarious!!!

PeterNincompoop

@TheSonOfKrypton: Montana State?
Missouri State
Mississippi State
Michigan State
Massachusetts State
Minnesota State
Molybdenum State?


I'm sorry, which MSU are you talking about?

For 2009, University of Illinois is the top ranked civil engineering school in the US that offers a doctorate program.

Followed closely by MIT, UC Berkeley

U of Michigan ranks 7th.

@TheSonOfKrypton: Fair enough, my school did the same (in fact I would bet that it's a requirement for ABET accreditation). The point remains, however, that lots of fields still rely on the imperial system, no matter how inferior it seems.

And, from the looks of the other comments, it makes sense for them to use imperial units for this civil engineering/construction-related display, since those industries apparently use imperial exclusively.

Deep-Blue

@worldwidejoe: That was a flash from the left side of the shot. You can see the flash on the piston.

@Gann: Not to mention that you can't even buy lumber in metric lengths here in the US last I knew... And lumber is heavily used even in concrete and steel construction (even if mostly for bracing of forms)...

@bosskev: Oh, crap! Now the Gawker code monkeys are really screwing up and/or limiting the HTML tagging functionality. Things we could do yesterday are now gone, and things we can still do are stripped out any time you edit your comment, meaning you have to go back and replace each and every tag you'd used.

I hope this is just a temporary setback...!

@TheSonOfKrypton:
I can't get my funny comment to work....so i'll just say, MSU Engineering Sucks.

PeterNincompoop

@SexWaxin'_GitEmSteveDave: Yes, I was thinking more along the lines of a 100 mph rogue chunk of concrete to the mommy/daddy button.

@PeterNincompoop: Pete, I'm not taking anything back. In fact, I'll do you one better : MSU College of Engineering >>> University of Illinois College of Engineering.

You're just lucky there isn't an equality symbol for "shits on".

@Lite: is on a boat.: Also, every pair of sunglasses I own are actually tinted safety glasses, so at least my eyes would be safe. I trust the goggles.

@bosskev: Welcome to my world, bosskev.

@TheSonOfKrypton:Wishnias has it right, it's an industry-wide bit of nonsense. I would love to switch to SI, but the first time I dimensioned a set of drawings in meters I would get fired. And the contractor would end up with a building that was 2.54x too small, since his tape measure is in inches.

@Deep-Blue: I don't mean they should stop teaching their students imperial units....Where I graduated from, our subjects were primarily focused on SI units, but every once in a while there would be an imperial unit based question on an exam/quiz (as long as it could be easily converted to whatever unit was necessary).

@TheSonOfKrypton:

Take it back! As a proud graduate of the University of Illinois Civil Engineering Department (BS and MS) I should know that we are consistantly ranked 1st or 2nd (stupid MIT or Berkley) for our post-graduate Structural Engineering program, so there is a good chance that an Illini designed whatever building your in right now. I hope you sleep well at night!

(And just to agree with Possums, everything in the U.S. Construction/Architecture industry is still Imperial units, so every Civil Engineering program in the U.S. is still teaching in these units.)

PeterNincompoop

@Jakooboo the Great!: Now wait just a gosh-darned minute there, pal! If I had been there, I would have been afraid. Are you trying to say that I'm some kind of little pans

Oh. Oh, yeah.

Never mind.

@wishnias: That's ridiculous. The 'construction industry' is holding back a primary component in the advancement of our country (while the rest of the world uses the SI system)? That's BS.

@Curves: This is how Michael Bay got his career inspiration.

@Lite: is on a boat.: That right there is the only plausible explanation I'd be okay with. It's an open house, thus they are demonstrating to a whole bunch of non-engineering folks, thus they had to use English units. Ok. That makes sense.

@TheSonOfKrypton: It is fascinating that the US still uses the imperial system along with Burma and Liberia (interesting company to keep) I have said all along that since we are blowing money making jobs, we should spend some of it converting to the metric system, that would generate a bunch of work, and bring us in step with the rest of the world.

@Lite: is on a boat.: When you are less cautious than the Mythbusters you've either got some gigantic balls or some seriously lacking common sense.

Although I agree that SI units are the way to go, imperial units are still the "units of choice" in Civil Engineering and its respective industry in the U.S. The University of Illinois, being an ABET accredited engineering school, is required to educate its students based on industry standards. This is done by ALL engineering schools in the country. Also, having received my ME degree from Illinois, I used SI units. We use both, but CEs primarily use the imperial units. Blame your NCEES, not the University.

YadidGlocks

@TheSonOfKrypton: Lots of American companies' engineering departments still use imperial units extensively, for a variety of reasons. Hell, even some NASA contractors need to use the imperial system for certain components.

My point is, if an engineering school stopped encouraging the use of both SI and imperial, it would put their students at a pretty severe disadvantage when they go out into the workplace.

Deep-Blue

@TheSonOfKrypton: Cvil Engineering in the states, primarily due to inertia in the construction industry, works solely with Imperial units. Not that it's good or easy by any stretch, but our kips, ft-lbs and psi aren't going anywhere.

wishnias

@TheSonOfKrypton: They probably set the scale to use pounds so that most people there knew what he was talking about.

@TheSonOfKrypton:

Sorry, this is the U.S. You get out in to the field and most everybody designs with kips, feet, miles, psi, etc.

@SexWaxin'_GitEmSteveDave: Yes, I think I can barely see some reflection, but if you look at the announcer. He's wearing no hard hat, and doesn't seem to have a shield protecting him.

Wow, The crowd looked awfully close. The only thing I could think was something horrific could have happened.

Totalfixation

@╠═══CoolRiver45═══╣: Pshaw. Only little pansy girls are afraid of a 2 ton chunk of concrete with 1000000lbs on top of it.

@Lite: is on a boat.: I would have my reservations about sitting so close to it.

╠═CoolRiver45═╣

i was thinking the same exact thing about the lexon shield...concrete shrapnel anyone?

WaffleTeamStrike

@Curves: Completely agree.

Wow. And just like that, I lose all respect for the University of Illinois College of Engineering. Seriously guys? Imperial units? Real engineering schools use SI units and STICK with SI. None of this 'kip' or 'pounds' nonsense. Let that shit go. It's way too inconvenient for any subject laden with math.

@Lite: is on a boat.:
There is. You can see the reflection off of it a little bit.

You'd figure they would hand out safety goggles to the audience.

AmataPriscus

I could totally see this being used in a Final Destination movie.

royoftroy

@Lite: is on a boat.: There was. You can see the wood holding it on the floor and also in front of the arm of the press on the left. It must have been cleaned with Windex. ;)

That was just totally cool. Makes me want to blow something up.

I am surprised that there wasn't say, a lexan shield in front of people, or safety glasses or...

But, that was pretty impressive.

@zeco: Hahah. I've had longer comment strings. Much longer.

And I think that was the gayest thing I've said all week. Yup. It certainly was.

@psychiccheese:LMFAO. That flowchart is the most win thing I've seen today. Of course though, this IS morning, so it could be one-upped.......:)

University of Alberta FTW! also... SI Units FTW! haha.

Gaven Tang

@bosskev: They run on the Valve Book of Coding. Whenever you add one new feature, you must break a minimum of 10 other features. Don't even get me started on what has to happen when fixing an already broken feature.

Darkest Daze

@TheSonOfKrypton:
Hehe, i'm not an engineering grad and I still found the string pretty funny. =) Was the longest string I've ever read on gizmodo though.

zeco