Talk:Mathematical Bridge

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University of Cambridge

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Name

So how did it get the name Mathematical Bridge? Ryanluck 06:12, 20 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The very end of http://www.queens.cam.ac.uk/Queens/Images/WinBridg.html suggests that it stems from the 18th century term for similar designs, 'geometrical construction'. topynate 00:33, 29 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Is the word 'spurious' apt? I would prefer 'unhistorical'. Richard Pinch 21:32, 13 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hmmm - I agree. spurious means false - and this isn't a false name for the bridge. That's really what it's called - it doesn't have any other name. Dunno about unhistorical either. It's been there for a long time - and it's been called the mathematical bridge for quite a while. I guess it's more of a misnomer because it has nothing to do with mathematics. I'll just remove 'spurious' and let the remainder of the article speak for itself. If you read on, you can understand why the name might be considered inappropriate...but it's not spurious. Thanks for spotting that. SteveBaker 22:01, 13 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Newton

Whilst I'm prepared to believe that the bridge was not designed by Newton, the argument that because it was constructed after his death he could not possibly have designed it - is clearly false. We have many examples of things that (for example) Archimedes designed that people only just got around to building. So we can't say it's "patent nonsense". SteveBaker 21:53, 11 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Interestingly there's better reason to believe that Newton designed the sundial Richard Pinch 19:43, 24 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Tour guides

Cambridge tour guides need some serious straightening out. If they are telling people that the bridge was built by students (like *that* is likely) and was so amazingly sophisticated that it couldn't be understood by those dumb old professors...geez. They are also telling an incorrect version of the truth about the Bridge of Sighs (Cambridge) in which a car was suspended under the bridge by students...in fact, this stunt was performed on two separate occasions - but as presented by the tour guides, the dates and the type of car and the method by which it was moved there are wildly incorrect. (They said it was an Austin Mini and it happened in 1956 - when the Mini didn't even start production until 1959!)...so if they can't get the story right on these two bridges - what are the odds that they have ANY of their facts right?! SteveBaker 15:17, 13 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Bolts

The most plausible story about the bolts I've heard is that if they were removed the bridge would indeed stay up under the purely downwards loading of its own weight and that of people walking across. However, lateral forces (wind, people leaning on the railings) could cause the joints to become separated and the bridge to thus collapse. Ie the bolts don't experience any shear forces. Is this correct? It should be easy enough to check by examining the bridge and doing the relevant calculations, but that would probably count as original research.M0ffx 12:49, 20 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

From what I've been able to discover, all of the stories about the bridge are basically nonsense - it's JUST a bridge held together the usual way...with bolts. Clearly, if you removed all of the bolts/nails/screws/whatever then the vertical pieces holding up the handrail would fall off - and then there is nothing holding the handrail in place except gravity - so they aren't exerting any forces on the long diagonal pieces. Now there is nothing to stop the outermost of those from rotating outwards and falling off - I don't see how it could do anything other than instantly collapse. SteveBaker 12:59, 20 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

As I understand it, the original did not pass fully through the bridge, so were invisible to people walking over the bridge. Some time later, the bolts were replaced with metal ones, which do pass fully through the bridge. See this page on the college website for details. Bluap 14:06, 20 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There is a nice old photo of the bridge here: http://www.queens.cam.ac.uk/queens/images/Bridge1865.html - I presume that's out of copyright - so I wonder if we could use it here. SteveBaker 16:43, 20 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Done. EKR (talk) 08:24, 16 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

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