16 Resonance disaster

“Mechanical resonance is the tendency of a mechanical system to absorb more energy when the frequency of its oscillations matches the system’s natural frequency of vibration (its resonance frequency or resonant frequency) than it does at other frequencies.”

Resonance disaster is defined as a the destruction of a building or mechanism caused by extreme mechanical resonance. This can cause the structure to oscillate and eventually with enough energy, topple over. When constructing buildings  and other structures, engineers study the effect of resonance to ensure safety. Examples of countermeasures to resonance are “shock mounts” and a “tuned mass damper” such as the pendulum found in the Taipei 101 building.

8. Uncertainty

Date: July 23, 1956

“So is she going to be ok, Dr. Brown?” Tom asked.

“Yes, everything seems very normal. Both her and the baby will fine… Although you can imagine that it might be difficult. Although the baby is overall healthy, we can’t be sure of any other unforeseen effects. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. “

“What could have caused this?”

“Well, we can’t know for sure. Sometimes these things are just natural. Or there may be outside factors involved. Your wife is lucky to be alive.”

“Yes…yes she is…Thank you Dr. Brown”

5. Thalidomide: A Brief History

Thalidomide is a drug that was developed in Germany initially as a sedative and pain killer. It seemed to have such successful results that many people, including pregnant women began to use the drug to treat morning sickness and other pregnancy symptoms. However, with time the women who took the drug during their pregnancy gave birth to defected babies. As it turns out, the reaction that synthesizes the drug produced a racemate product. The R- enantiomer gave the pain relieving while the S-enantiomer was responsible for the birth defects. Although widely used in Europe and Canada, there were only a few cases of birth defects in U.S. thanks to Frances Oldham Kelsey who refused to clear the drug through the FDA without extensive documentation of its side effects and thereby stopping its distribution in the United States.

Source: http://www.k-faktor.com/thalidomide/