The Eiffel Tower is not “exactly” 300 meters as we have always taught you since it has taken 15 centimeters again this summer

In the middle of summer, under the Parisian sun, the Eiffel Tower takes a few centimeters as if it was on tiptoe. Consequently, We don’t see him with the naked eye, but the engineers measure it very well. Furthermore, The building imagined in 1884 by the team of Gustave Eiffel to peak in 300 meters During the universal. Therefore, exhibition of 1889 actually exceeds this height when the mercury climbs. Furthermore, And every winter, she goes down quietly, as if she resumed her breath.

Read also:

The Iron Lady grows each year from 12 to 15 cm – Eiffel tower not "exactly" 300

When a metal heats up. Furthermore, its atoms vibrate morewhich pushes them slightly to deviate from each other. However, This phenomenon has a name: Thermal dilation. Nevertheless, Three parameters come into play: the type of material. In addition, the length of the eiffel tower not “exactly” 300 element and the extent of the temperature change.
Puddled iron and tower steel have a Dilation coefficient approximately 12 × 10⁻⁶ by Celsius degree. In other words. an iron bar of one meter is growing with 12 micrometers When it takes a single degree, less than a human hair.

From –20 to 40 ° C: a century of degrees – Eiffel tower not "exactly" 300

Paris has already experienced winters at –20 ° C. summers close to 40 °Cor a thermal amplitude of almost 100 °C Between extremes. In full sun, the temperature of the metal can even exceed the ambient air.
If the calculation is applied to an iron bar of 100 meters, we obtain a theoretical elongation of 12 centimeters. By transposing the 300 meters of the Eiffel Tower, this figure climbs to 36 centimeters.

Actual measures in the field

The tower is not a simple straight bar. but a interlacing of 18,000 metal parts weighing eiffel tower not “exactly” 300 7,300 tonnes. Some are straight, others inclined or bent, and the whole also undergoes the push of the wind. Result: the measurements show that the height really varies from 12 to 15 centimeters Depending on the season.
Another discreet phenomenon: the heat is not uniformly distributed. When one side heats up more. it lies more than the other and The tower bows slightlyof a fraction of degree, before recovering at nightfall.

A giant that behaves like a thermometer

The Eiffel Tower follows the cycles of the day and the seasons. Its height rises. descends to the rhythm of temperature variations, and its slight inclination even indicates the position of the sun. Each summer, it is therefore a little higher and a little more leaning than in winter.

An open -air demonstration

This phenomenon is not specific to the iron lady. The same calculations apply to the Garabit viaduct, the Forth bridge eiffel tower not “exactly” 300 in Scotland or even to rail rails. Except that it is a global symbol which illustrates it.
What is played on a atomic scale translates, step by step, by a measurable movement at more than 300 meters high. Each summer postcard of Paris captures this small transformation without knowing it: a monument that lives. reacts to heat as a giant iron and steel organism.

Source : https://theconversation.com/the-eiffel-tower-gets-bigger-every-summer-heres-why-261904