This Bridge Twisted Itself Apart in a 42 MPH Wind. Why?

How did the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse? On November 7, 1940, "Galloping Gertie" twisted itself apart in a 42 mph wind, just four months after it opened. Here's what really happened, and why many physics textbooks still get it wrong. You'll meet the state engineer who warned them, the professor who walked out onto the dying bridge, the cocker spaniel named Tubby, and the insurance agent who pocketed the premiums. Subscribe for the next rabbit hole:    / @historyrabbitholehq   CHAPTERS 0:00 A bridge twisting in a breeze 0:55 The cheap bridge 2:01 Galloping Gertie 2:58 The professor's warning 3:42 November 7, 1940 4:46 The fall 5:44 The wrong answer in your textbook 6:51 What it left behind SOURCES Washington State Department of Transportation, Tacoma Narrows Bridge history: Collapse — https://wsdot.wa.gov/tnbhistory/colla... WSDOT, Tacoma Narrows Bridge history: Aftermath — https://wsdot.wa.gov/tnbhistory/after... WSDOT, Eyewitness accounts (Coatsworth, Farquharson, Eldridge) — https://wsdot.wa.gov/TNBhistory/eyewi... HistoryLink.org, Essay 5048 — https://historylink.org/File/5048 Wikipedia, Tacoma Narrows Bridge (1940) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_...) K. Y. Billah & R. H. Scanlan, "Resonance, Tacoma Narrows bridge failure, and undergraduate physics textbooks," American Journal of Physics 59 (1991) Historians and physicists still debate the exact wording of the explanation; the video says so. IMAGE & FOOTAGE CREDITS Collapse footage: Barney Elliott, The Camera Shop, Tacoma, 1940 — public domain (Wikimedia Commons, "Tacoma Narrows Bridge destruction.ogv"; Internet Archive Pa2096Tacoma) Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), Library of Congress — public domain (photos and 16 mm film frames, 1940) University of Washington Digital Collections — no known copyright restrictions (opening day, cable spinning, Howard Clifford) NOAA Library — weather map, November 7, 1940 (public domain) NASA / NACA — wind tunnel photos and Theodore von Kármán portraits (public domain) Library of Congress, Gottscho-Schleisner Collection — George Washington Bridge (public domain) Erwin Raisz, 1941 map; U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey chart (public domain) Gertie remains photos: Timbabcock64 (CC BY 3.0 / CC BY-SA 4.0); bridge fragment: Joe Mabel (CC BY-SA 3.0) — Wikimedia Commons Drone footage of today's Tacoma Narrows bridges: Steven Pavlov, 2024 (CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons) Other illustrations: Pearson Scott Foresman (PD), Goodwin & Company (CC0), Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen (PD) Diagrams, animations and title cards: The History Rabbit Hole Narration: ElevenLabs. Music: generated with Google Gemini. #TacomaNarrows #GallopingGertie #History