ATLAS-1 (TRESTLE)

 

ATLAS-I (Air Force Weapons Lab Transmission-Line Aircraft Simulator), better known as Trestle, was a unique electromagnetic pulse (EMP) generation and testing apparatus built between 1972 and 1980 during the Cold War at Sandia National Laboratories near Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  ATLAS-I was the largest NNEMP (non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse) generator in the world, designed to test the radiation hardening of strategic aircraft systems against EMP pulses from nuclear warfare.  Built at a cost of $60 million, it was composed of two parts: a pair of powerful Marx generators capable of simulating the electromagnetic pulse effects of a high-altitude nuclear explosion (HANE) of the type expected during a nuclear war, and a giant wooden trestle built in a bowl-shaped arroyo, designed to elevate the test aircraft above ground interference and orient it below the pulse in a similar manner to what would be seen in mid-air.  Trestle is the world's largest structure composed entirely of wood and glue laminate.

A Boeing B-52 strategic bomber being prepared for EMP testing at Trestle in 1982.

FERRARI WORLD ABU DHABI

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi is a mostly indoors amusement park on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Ferrari World is covered by a gigantic free-formed roof with a surface area of approximately 2,000,000 square feet. The Ferrari World roof would cover the Vatican City in Rome. If the Ferrari World building was stood on its end it would be tallest man-made structure in the world at over 300 stories. The Ferrari shield logo on the roof measures 213 feet in length and covers an area of 32,000 square feet. Ferrari World Abu Dhabi has the record for the largest space frame structure ever built.

FERRARI WORLD ABU DHABI

BULLWINKLE OIL PLATFORM

Bullwinkle is a 1,736-foot tall, pile supported fixed steel oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Of the total height, 1,352 feet are below the waterline. It is located in Green Canyon Block 65, approximately 160 miles southwest of New Orleans. Bullwinkle is the world’s tallest supported fixed steel structure. The tower is designed to resist hurricane force winds, 70’ waves, and a lifetime of stress-reversals induced by small waves. Bullwinkle used 10 times the amount of steel as the Eiffel Tower and weighed over 50,000 tons. In order to tow it out to sea, an 853-foot long barge, the world’s largest at the time, had to be constructed.

Bullwinkle Oil Platform being towed out to sea
By Jay Phagan - Bullwinkle Oil Platform, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=102530784

THE RHEINTURM (RHINE TOWER) - GERMANY

The Rheinturm (Rhine Tower) is a 789-foot concrete telecommunications tower in Dusseldorf, Germany. It houses a revolving restaurant and observation deck at a height of 558 feet.    The Rheinturm was inaugurated on December 1, 1981. It contains 7,500 cubic meters of concrete and weighs 22,500 tons.    As a special attraction, a light sculpture on its shaft works as a clock. The sculpture was designed by Horst H. Baumann and is called Lichzeitpegel (light time level). The light sculpture on the Rheinturm is the largest digital clock in the world.

Digital Clock Explanation of Display

RED DOG MINE

The Red Dog Mine is a zinc and lead mine located 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle in the Northwest Arctic Borough of Alaska. It is owned and operated by the Canadian mining giant Teck Resources. Red Dog Mine is the largest lead-zinc mine in the world. In 1991, Alaska Structures completed a conveyor enclosure at Red Dog Mine. The conveyor enclosure is more than a mile in length and is the longest fabric building in the world.

RED DOG MINE CONVEYOR ENCLOSURE

INHC-LAKE BORGNE SURGE BARRIER

The 1.8-mile-long Inner Harbor Navigation Canal (IHNC)-Lake Borgne Surge Barrier is located at the confluence of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) and the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO), about 12 miles east of downtown New Orleans. The surge barrier works in tandem with the Seabrook Floodgate Complex at the north end of the IHNC (also known locally as the Industrial Canal) near Lake Pontchartrain. The projects reduce the risk associated with a storm surge that has a one percent chance of occurring in any given year, or a 100-year storm. At a cost of $1.3 billion, the IHNC-Lake Borgne Surge Barrier is the largest design-build civil works project in the history of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The IHNC-Lake Borgne Surge Barrier is the largest continuous surge barrier in the world.

HIGH LEVEL, ALBERTA, CANADA

High Level is a town in northern Alberta, Canada. The population according to its 2017 municipal census is 3,992. High Level is home to the northernmost grain elevator in the world. In August 2019, Grain handler, Richardson Pioneer announced that construction had started to replace the existing grain elevator with a new one. The new facility, connected to Canadian National Railway track, will have 32,000 tons of storage capacity and a loop track configuration able to load 135 rail cars.

Grain elevator in High Level, Alberta - the northernmost example of its type in the world

By awmcphee - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=79660637

GRAND COULEE DAM VERSUS HOOVER DAM

	Grand Coulee Dam	Hoover Dam
Type of Dam	Gravity Dam	Gravity-Arch Dam
Operating Agency	Bureau of Reclamation	Bureau of Reclamation
Total Generating Capacity	6,809 megawatts	2,080 megawatts
Location	Washington State	Nevada/Arizona
Dates of Construction	1933-1941 1967-1974 Third Powerplant	1931-1936
Height of Dam	550 feet	726 feet
Length of Dam	5,223 feet	1,244 feet
Concrete	11,975,521 cubic yards*	3,250,000 cubic yards
Purposes and Benefits	Purposes and benefits of both dams include flood control and river regulation, water storage and delivery (including irrigation), power generation, recreation and fish and wildlife.

*With 12 million cubic yards of concrete you could build a sidewalk four feet wide and four inches thick and wrap it twice around the equator (50,000 miles), or you could build a highway from Seattle, Washington to Miami, Florida.

THE UNION WATERSPHERE

The Union Watersphere, also known as the Union Water Tower, a sphere-shaped water tank in Union, New Jersey, is the world’s tallest water sphere. The Union Watersphere is located adjacent to U.S. Route 22, New Jersey Route 82, and the Garden State Parkway. Standing 212 feet tall, it was originally built in 1964 at the cost of $89,500. It holds 250,000 gallons of well water. A museum dedicated the watersphere is located in Austin, Texas and is operated by a former Union resident.

TOKYO SKYTREE

The Tokyo Skytree is a broadcasting and observation tower in Sumida, Tokyo, Japan. At a height of 2,080 feet it is the tallest tower* in the world, and the second tallest structure in the world after the Burj Khalifa. *A tower is defined as: “a tall human structure, always taller than it is wide, for public or regular operational access by humans, but not for living in or office work, and is self-supporting or free-standing, which means no guy-wires for support. Continuously habitable buildings and skyscrapers, radio and TV masts, bridge towers, chimneys, transmission towers, sculptures and most large statues and obelisks do not come within the definition of tower”.

By Kakidai - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19574418

JINPING-I DAM – TALLEST DAM IN THE WORLD

The Jinping-I Dam on the Jinping Bend on the Yalong River in Liangshan, Sichuan, China is 1,001 feet tall. It is the tallest dam in the world.

WEMBLEY STADIUM SUPERLATIVES

Wembley Stadium is a football (soccer) stadium in Wembley, London, which opened in 2007, on the site of the original Wembley Stadium. The stadium hosts major football matches including home matches of the England national football team, and the FA Cup Final. With 90,000 seats (86,000 American football) it is the largest stadium in England, the largest stadium in the U.K. and the second-largest stadium in Europe. The stadium’s signature feature is a circular section lattice arch of 23 feet internal diameter with 1,033-foot span, rising to 436 feet. The archway is the world’s longest unsupported roof structure. Arguably, Wembley Stadium’s most significant record is that the stadium contains 2,619 toilets, more than any other venue in the world.

WEMBLEY STADIUM

KHAN SHATYR ENTERTAINMENT CENTER – WORLD’S TALLEST TENT

The Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center in Astana, Kazakhstan’s is the world’s tallest tent. The 490 feet high tent has a 660-foot elliptical base covering 140,000 square meters (35 acres). Under the tent, an area larger than 10 football stadiums, is an urban-scale park, shopping and entertainment venue with squares and cobbled streets, a boating river, shopping center, mini-golf and indoor beach resort. The fabric roof is constructed from ETFE- cushions suspended on a network of cables strung from a central spire. The transparent material allows sunlight through which, in conjunction with the  stack effect air heating and cooling systems, is designed to maintain an internal temperature between 59–86 °F in the main space and 66–75 °F in the retail units, while outside the temperature varies between −31 and 95 °F across the year.

KHAN SHATYR ENTERTAINMENT COMPLEX IN ASTANA, KAZAKHSTAN

MOST EXPENSIVE HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL STADIUMS IN TEXAS

Stadium Name	School District	Cost ($ millions)	Opened	Capacity
Cy-Fair FCU Stadium	Cy-Fair	80 (1)	2006	11,000
Legacy Stadium	Katy	70.3	2017	12,000
McKinney Stadium	McKinney	70	2018	12,000
Eagle Stadium	Allen	60	2012	18,000
District Stadium	Tomball	51.2	2020 (2)	12,000
Woodfest Bank Stadium	Conroe	49	2008	10,000
Children’s Health Stadium	Prosper	48 (3)	2012	12,000
Memorial Stadium	Beaumont	47.3 (3)	2010	10,600
Freedom Field	Alvin	41.4	2018	10,280
Challenger-Columbia Stadium	Clear Creek	39	2016	10,000
Planet Ford Stadium	Spring	38.9	2019	8,000
Alamo Stadium	San Antonio	33	2014 (4)	18,500
The Pfield	Pflugerville	25.8	2017	10,000
Ken Hall Stadium	Fort Bend	25	2004	10,000
(1)    Cost includes 9,5000 seat arena and 456 seat theater (2)    Scheduled to open in 2020 (3)    Includes cost of natatorium (4)    Originally opened in 1939, but went through $33 million renovation in 2014

WORLD’S LARGEST MOVABLE LAND-BASED STRUCTURE – CHERNOBYL NSC

The Chernobyl New Safe Confinement (NSC) is a structure built to confine the remains of the number 4 reactor unit at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, which was destroyed during the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. The structure also enclosed the temporary shelter structure (sarcophagus) that was built around the reactor immediately after the disaster. The NSC was constructed 590 feet west of reactor 4, and slid into place. Sliding of the structure along foundation rails was a difficult process. It was pushed on Teflon pads by hydraulic pistons, and guided by lasers. The NSC is the world’s largest land-based structure ever moved. By the numbers: Ø  Weight: 40,000 tons; roughly the weight of 3 Eiffel Towers, 107 fully loaded 747s, or the USS Missouri Battleship Ø  Height: 590 feet tall; roughly the height of the Seattle Space Needle or the Washington Monument Ø  Length: 530 feet; roughly one and a half football fields Ø  Cost: $2.3 billion contributed by more than 40 nations

PARIS, TEXAS V. PARIS, TENNESSEE

JEFFERSON DAVIS STATE HISTORIC SITE - FAIRVIEW, KENTUCKY

The Jefferson Davis Monument State Historic Site is a Kentucky state park commemorating the birthplace of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America. The site’s focal point is a 351-foot concrete obelisk. The obelisk is the tallest unreinforced concrete structure in the world. No steel was used to reinforce the concrete walls below its pyramidal top. It is also the tallest concrete obelisk in the world and the fifth tallest monument in the United States.

Jefferson Davis Monument in Fairview, Kentucky

TROLL A PLATFORM - TALLEST AND HEAVIEST STRUCTURE EVER MOVED

The Troll A platform is an offshore natural gas platform in the Troll gas field off the west coast of Norway The Troll A platform is the tallest and heaviest structure ever moved by mankind. It has a height of 1,549 feet and weighs 683,600 tons. The platform stands on the sea floor 994 feet below the surface of the sea and has an elevator that takes over 9 minutes to travel from the platform above the waves to the sea floor. In 1996, the Troll A platform was towed over 120 miles from the northern part of western Norway to the Troll field, 50 miles west of Bergen. The tow took seven days.

WORLD'S LARGEST SUNDIALS

Note: The determination of the “largest” sundial in the world is difficult because it depends on whether it is measured by height, width, or the gnomon (the vertical structure that creates the shadow indicating the time of day).

Three of the largest sundials in the world are as follows:

The Samrat Yantra (translation: Supreme Instrument) in Jaipur, India is one of the world’s largest sundials. (It is difficult to pin down the “largest sundial in the world” because “largest” can translate to height or width).

The Samrat Yantra is 90 feet tall, and is so large that its shadow moves at speed of 1 millimeter per second. If you stand and watch it, you’ll see it move about 2 and 1/3 inches every minute. 

Samrat Yantra Sundial in Jaipur, India

The Sundial Bridge (also known as the Sundial Bridge at Turtle Bay)  is a cantilever spar cable-styed bridge for bicycles and pedestrians that spans the Sacramento River in Redding, California, and forms a large sundial.

The support tower of the bridge forms a single 217-foot mast that points due north at a cantilevered angle, allowing it to serve as the gnomon of a sundial. The Sundial Bridge gnomon’s shadow is cast upon a large dial to the north of the bridge. The tip of the shadow moves at approximately one foot per minute to that the Earth’s rotation about its axis can be seen with the naked eye.

The Sundial Bridge in Redding, California

Taipei 101 is a supertall skyscraper located in Taipei, Taiwan. It held the record as the world’s tallest building from its opening in 2004 until the 2010 completion of the Burj Khalifa.  

A circular park to the east of Taipei 101 acts as the sundial face, telling the afternoon hours using the shadow cast by the building. 

Taipei 101 in Taipei, Taiwan

KVLY-TV TRANSMITTING MAST

The KVLY-TV mast is a 2,063-foot-tall television-transmitting mast in Blanchard, North Dakota, used by Fargo station KVLY-TV channel 11. Completed during 1963, it was the tallest structure in the world until succeeded by the Warsaw radio mast during 1974, which collapsed in 1991, again making the KVLY-TV mast the tallest structure in the world until the Burj Khalifa exceeded it in 2008. It remains the fourth-tallest structure in the world, the tallest structure in the Western Hemisphere and the tallest broadcasting mast in the world.

KVLY-TV Mast in North Dakota