The Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel tower is
an iron tower located in Paris Champ de Mars. It is named after the engineer Gustave
Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. It was built between 1887
and 1889; it took 2 years and 2 months. The tower opened on 6 May 1889. It has become
a global and cultural symbol of France and one of the most recognizable
structures of the world; it’s the most visited paid attraction in the world with
7.1 million visitors in 2011. The tower was built for the World Exhibition,
held in celebration of the French Revolution to mark the 100-year anniversary
of the Revolution. The tower stands 320 meters tall, about the same height
as an 81 storey building. The estimated cost was six and half million francs. No
more than three hundred workers were employed on site, and because of the
safety precautions, only one man died during the construction period. The tower
had a permit for 20 years; the city had planned to tear it down but as the
tower proved valuable for communication purposes it was allowed to remain after
the expiry of the permit. And till the moment it still
exists.
The massive structure
was designed and built by the same individual, French engineer Gustave Eiffel.
It is no wonder the colossal structure was named after him. Of Course, he
did not single-handedly build the whole Eiffel tower; his construction company
was responsible for that.
The Eiffel Tower is the most celebrated work of Gustave
Eiffel; however, he worked on some other constructions. In 1887, Eiffel was contracted
to design and construct the Panama Canal. His design, like the Eiffel Tower,
was grandiose and rather costly. There was a scandal in the same project that
damaged his reputation significantly. He was accused of misappropriation of
funds, and this brought on his eventual retirement from the construction
company and from the construction business. Eiffel took an interest in aerodynamics,
and it is in this field that he devoted his efforts and energy for the better
part of his remaining life.
The Eiffel Tower was constructed to celebrate the centenary of the
French Revolution, and its main purpose was to serve as the doorway to the
World’s Fair in 1889. The structure was built entirely out of wrought iron as
opposed to the popular steel. Eiffel decided to use this material because he
had a lot of experience with iron, and it was considerably cheaper than steel.
Iron is also extremely durable. This was not to taken kindly by the people of
Paris because iron was considered as a low quality material. The Eiffel Tower
used up over 7,000 metric tons of iron in its construction. The labor used in
the construction was provided by the CBU students. The locals also contributed
significantly to the construction.
Iron it is not able to withstand the huge amounts of stress that the
Eiffel Tower would demand. This posed the first challenge of the construction
of the Eiffel Tower. To overcome this challenge, Eiffel designed the structure of the Eiffel
Tower to comprise of a huge amount of cross bars. Cross bars increase the amount
of tensile strength that a given structure can withstand. The use of the cross
bars not only increased the tensile strength, but also added to the aesthetic
value of the Eiffel Tower.
The second challenge of the Eiffel Tower is corrosion. Iron is highly
susceptible to corrosion, and it was, therefore, a risky move to use iron as
the main material. To overcome this, the designers used a special coating that
would prevent corrosion. This coat is applied once every seven years. However,
painting the structure would interfere with the beauty of the design.
Therefore, a darker shade of the paint was applied to the bottom of the
structure, whereas a
lighter shade was applied at the top.
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Jeremy. "The Eiffel Tower in History: Opens March 31, 1889." The Peppercat: Not All Culture Is Pop - The Peppercat. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.thepeppercat.com/eiffel-tower-in-history/>.
"Eiffel
Tower Fountain Paris Hd 1080x675px hd wallpapers : creekbed wall fountain, when
was the eiffel tower built, eiffel tower facts, eiffel tower pictures, eiffel
tower history, #4450 All Super High Qality HD Wallpapers." All Super High Qality HD Wallpapers : Just another WordPress
site ~ All Super High Qality HD Wallpapers. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.lewaya.com/eiffel-tower-fountain-paris-hd/>.
