THE 7 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE MODERN WORLD

 

You surely have already heard about the seven wonders of the world, but have you ever heard about the seven engineering wonders of the world? In fact, nowadays it isn’t enough to say seven wonders of the world because there are several types of “seven wonders of the world”: there are ancient wonders, natural wonders and engineering wonders.

 

In this article I would like to focus on the seven engineering wonders of the world, but first here are  the ancient ones, as categorized by Philo of Byzantium in 250 B.C.:  the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Colossus of Rhode, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Statue of Zeus, the Temple of Artemis, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The only ancient wonder still standing is the Great Pyramid of Giza.  

 

The achievements of this era of technology are amazing in all fields but most of all we have done great progress in engineer and now The American Society of Civil Engineers has created a list of top seven engineering and architectural feats of the modern world.

These marvels must have a good design and have the purpose to improve human life and to solve problems that had been considered unsolvable for a long time.

 

1. Channel Tunnel  

It is also known as Chunnel and is an underground tunnel that is 52 kilometres long. It connects the United Kingdom to Northern France. It is the longest tunnel that is below the sea. Passengers board not on foot, but in their cars or in buses. It consists of tree tunnels one to go and one to come back, the third one is used for maintenance works. Each tunnel is 7,5 meters large.

 

2. CN Tower  

It is located in downtown Toronto, Canada and is considered to be the tallest freestanding structure in the world. It is 1,815 ft high and is used as a communications tower and an observation desk. It features two visitor areas. There’s a restaurant at a height of 346 meters known as 360 restaurant since it completes a full rotation every 72 minutes.

 

3. Empire State Building 

This building is the best-known skyscraper in the world and it was the world’s tallest building between 1931 and 1972. It is 102 floors tall. It was opened officially on 1st May, 1931. The building's most astonishing feat however, was the speed in which it rose into the New York City skyline. Construction was completed in only one year and 45 days.

 

4. Golden Gate Bridge  

The Golden Gate Bridge remains the world's tallest suspension bridge even if it isn’t the longest anymore. It was ended in 1937 more than 60 years ago. The bridge connects Marion County to the northern tip of San Francisco. It hangs from two high towers, its cables each 82 metres thick are the biggest ever to support a bridge. In fact, the Golden Gate Bridge contains enough cable to encircle the earth three times.

It has a total span length of 2.7 kilometres. The bridge has 6 lanes and a width of 30 metres. The tallest point on the bridge is about 227 metres high.

5. Itaipu Dam  

This dam is the largest functional hydroelectric power plant in its generating capacity. The dam is located on the border of Paraguay and Brazil. When it was built it was able to generate an output of energy that was the 90% of the total energy consumption for Paraguay and 19% for Brazil. The dam was built using 50 million tons of earth and rock and during its construction caused the change of the course of world’s seventh largest river.

 

6. Delta Works  

It is the name given to the structures that have been built in order to protect the coastline of the Netherlands from flooding, they literally allow the Netherlands to exist. For centuries, the people of the Netherlands have repeatedly attempted to push back the sea, since the nation sits below sea level and its land mass is still sinking. Another advantage of these structures was to subsequently reduce the number of dikes that had to be used. The whole project took about 50 years to complete.

 

7. Panama Canal  

This canal is considered to be one of the most difficult and challenging engineering feats that has been achieved. The dream of Spanish conquistadores, its aim was to reduce the distance that trading vessels had to travel between the Pacific Oceans and Atlantic in this way saving money, time and the frustration of long travel. The canal is about 50 miles in length and it takes about 8-10 hours to complete the journey.

FRANCESCA, 4sc