(Well, we can assume Mega Bloks were ignored in the study, solely because they’re just a less interesting alternative to Legos. Sorry, Mega Bloks.)
According to tech site BoingBoing, the folks over at British radio show “More or Less” wrangled a scientist from Open University—which is actually a thing, despite the fact that the name sounds like they have lower enrollment standards than ASU—to calculate how tall one could build a tower composed of 2×2 Lego bricks.
To find this out, they used a hydraulic testing machine to see how much force a Lego brick could stand before breaking, applying more than 4,000 Newtons of force before the brick collapsed. From there, they calculated how much weight a single brick could hold before being overtaken by stress, then figured out how many bricks could stack atop one another using that result.
And from what they found, apparently one could stack 2×2 Lego bricks ’til they reached 2.17 miles into the sky—or as Open University’s Ian Johnston put it, “if the Greek gods wanted to build a new temple on Mount Olympus, and Mount Olympus wasn’t available, they could just – but no more – do it with Lego bricks. As long as they don’t jump up and down too much.”
As if the gods would be concerned with such decorum. Silly Brit.
This article appears in Nov 29 – Dec 5, 2012.
Lower enrolment standards? We have no enrolment standards at all the Open University, and we’re proud of it. It’s why we exist.
Best wishes, Ian “Silly Brit” Johnston (the Guy Who Did It)
(Only anonymous to avoid the hassle of registering, but you can find me through the OU)