Engineering Wonders
- Burj khalifa in Dubai
Standing at 829.8 meters tall after being topped out on the 16 January 2009, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai is the tallest building in the world. It has 163 floors that are home to the Armani Hotels Dubai, the Armani Residences, 1.85 million square feet of residential space and 300,000 square feet of office space, as well as featuring lounges, health and wellness facilities, four incredible pools and two observation decks looking out over the city of Dubai.
- Akashi Kaikyō Bridge
The Akashi Kaikyō Bridge is a suspension bridge, which links the city of Kobe on the Japanese mainland of Honshu to Iwaya on Awaji Island. It crosses the busy Akashi Strait as part of the Honshu–Shikoku Highway. It was completed in 1998, and has the longest central span of any suspension bridge in the world, at 1,991 metres (6,532 ft; 1.237 mi). It is one of the key links of the Honshū–Shikoku Bridge Project, which created three routes across the Inland Sea.
- The Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel (French: Le tunnel sous la Manche), also referred to as the Chunnel, is a 50.45-kilometre (31.35 mi) railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles (Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. It is the only fixed link between the island of Great Britain and the European mainland. At its lowest point, it is 75 m (250 ft) deep below the sea bed and 115 m (380 ft) below sea level. At 37.9 kilometres (23.5 mi), the tunnel has the longest underwater section of any tunnel in the world. The speed limit for trains through the tunnel is 160 km/h (100 mph).
- Three Gorges Dam
The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric gravity dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, central China, downstream of the Three Gorges. The Three Gorges Dam has been the world’s largest power station in terms of installed capacity (22,500 MW) since 2012. In 2018, the dam generated 101.6 terawatt-hours (TWh), breaking its previous record, but was still slightly lower than the Itaipú Dam, which had set the world record in 2016 after producing 103.1 TWh..
- The Rungrado 1st of May Stadium
The Rungrado 1st of May Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium on Rungra Island, Pyongyang, North Korea. It opened on 1 May 1989, with its first major event being the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students. It is the largest stadium in the world by seating capacity. The site occupies an area of 20.7 hectares (51 acres).
- Interstate 10 in Texas
Interstate 10 is the major east–west Interstate Highway in the Southern United States. In the U.S. state of Texas, it runs east from Anthony, at the border with New Mexico, through El Paso, San Antonio and Houston to the border with Louisiana in Orange, Texas. At just under 880 miles (1,420 km), the Texas segment of I-10, maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation, is the longest continuous untolled freeway in North America that is operated by a single authority. It is also the longest stretch of Interstate Highway with a single designation within a single state. Mile marker 880 and its corresponding exit number in Orange, Texas, are the highest numbered mile marker and exit on any freeway in North America. After widening was completed in 2008, a portion of the highway west of Houston is now also believed to be the widest in the world, at 26 lanes when including feeders.
- Antonov An-225 Mriya
The Antonov An-225 Mriya is a strategic airlift cargo aircraft that was designed by the Antonov Design Bureau in the Ukrainian SSR within the Soviet Union during the 1980s. It is powered by six turbofan engines and is the heaviest aircraft ever built, with a maximum takeoff weight of 640 tonnes (710 short tons; 630 long tons). It also has the largest wingspan of any aircraft in operational service.
- MONONOFU
A gigantic humanoid vehicle has been designed and built by a Japanese mechanical company. Standing 8.46 m (27 ft 9 in) tall, 4.27 m (14 ft) long and 4 m (13 ft 1 in) wide, Sakakibara Kikai’s beast named MONONOFU (meaning “samurai warrior” in Japanese) holds a Guinness World Records title for the largest humanoid vehicle.
- World’s smallest computer
Researchers at the University of Michigan created the world’s smallest computer (again). Their previous micro-computer, the Michigan Micro Mote, measured 2x2x4mm. It was a complete, functioning system powered by solar cell batteries. But in March 2018, IBM announced a new, smaller computer, which measured 1×1 mm, and was smaller than a grain of salt. It “raised a few eyebrows at the University of Michigan.”
- Underwater restaurant
The “Under” restaurant is five meters (16 feet) under water at Spangereid on Norway’s southern tip. “Under” also means “wonder” in Norwegian. It is Europe’s first and the world’s largest underwater restaurant, with seating for 100 guests. Built like a rock formation rising from the sea, “Under” measures 34 meters in length and is designed to blend into the marine environment over time. Its rough concrete shell will act as an artificial reef for limpets and kelp. Norwegian architects Snoehetta designed the building. They are also responsible for the National September 11 Memorial Museum in New York, and the Opera house in Oslo.
