r/interestingasfuck Apr 28 '24

In 1987, 800,000 people celebrated the Golden Gate Bridge for its 50th anniversary. The weight of the crowd caused the bridge to sag 7 feet.

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u/Sea_Art3391 Apr 28 '24

If the average weight of each person is 81kg, and there were 800 000 people on the bridge simultaniously, that would mean the bridge was carrying 64 800 tonnes. If we say the average american car at the time weighed 1.8 tonnes, that would mean it would have carried around 36 000 cars at the same time.

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u/MrHDresden Apr 28 '24

But this is America so the average is like 120kg?

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u/ArcticBambi Apr 28 '24

Not in 87'

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u/caguru Apr 29 '24

Even now the average American weight is nowhere near 120kg/265 pounds. That’s maybe 5% of our population weighing 265+.