The Bridge That Tore Itself Apart

In 1940, a brand-new bridge in Washington State began to move in the wind. Four months later, it ripped itself apart on camera. This is the story of Galloping Gertie, and the collapse that changed bridge engineering forever. Chapters 0:00 The collapse 0:43 A mile-wide problem 1:19 Two competing designs 2:34 A triumph on paper 3:04 Galloping Gertie 4:29 November 7, 1940 6:48 What actually happened 8:17 How it changed engineering 9:16 The lesson Sources Washington State Department of Transportation, Tacoma Narrows Bridge history The Failure of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, report to the Federal Works Agency (1941) K. Yusuf Billah & Robert H. Scanlan, "Resonance, Tacoma Narrows Bridge Failure, and Undergraduate Physics Textbooks," American Journal of Physics 59 (1991) Archival film, photos, and credits Collapse film: Barney Elliott and Harbine Monroe, 1940 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons) Frames from Prof. F. B. Farquharson's 16mm film, and photos from Clark Eldridge's 1940 final report: Historic American Engineering Record, HAER WA-99, Library of Congress (public domain) 1993 photos of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge: Jet Lowe, HAER, Library of Congress (public domain) Opening day 1940, first cable wire 1940, and 1950 construction photos: University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections (no known restrictions) Official opening program, 1940 (public domain) Puget Sound Navy Yard, 1932: U.S. Army Air Corps (public domain) Manhattan Bridge, 1909: Bain News Service and Irving Underhill, Library of Congress (public domain) Golden Gate Bridge under construction, 1934: Library of Congress (public domain) Weather map, Nov. 7, 1940: U.S. Weather Bureau, NOAA Central Library (public domain) Golden Gate Bridge photos: Chris Leipelt / Unsplash (CC0) and Wikimedia Commons (CC0) Akashi Kaikyo Bridge: Tysto (public domain) "GertieRemains 1.jpg" by Timbabcock, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 Map coastline data: GSHHG (Wessel & Smith), LGPL Maps, diagrams, and music: made for this video Narration: AI voice (Kokoro text-to-speech) New documentaries every Monday and Thursday. #engineering #megaprojects #documentary