FUN FACTS ABOUT HOOVER DAM
There are lots of neat things to know about this amazing dam.
1. Size of the Dam
The Hoover Dam is 726 feet tall, which makes it the tallest solid concrete dam in the western hemisphere.
It is taller than the Gateway Arch in St Louis (630 feet), the Washington Monument in Washington D.C. (555 feet), and the Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt (461 feet).
2. How heavy is the dam wall?
It weighs 6.6 million tons. This is enough concrete to build a 3-inch thick, 4-foot wide sidewalk around the earth at the equator.
3. Specialized Jobs
What did each of these construction workers do?
A Puddler? (he spread out the concrete)
A Mucker? (he removed rock debris after blasting)
A Nipper? (he supplied drilling crews with drills, powder and water)
A High-Scaler? (he removed loose rock from the canyon walls)
4. Measuring Electricity
Water is measured in gallons. Bananas in pounds. What is electricity measured in?
Answer: in watts. For example, it takes 100 watts to run a 100-watt light bulb.
The Hoover Dam Powerplant can instantly produce 2 gigawatts—that is, 20 million 100-watt light bulbs.
5. Wow! There are 7 miles of 50-foot diameter tunnels in the whole dam site.
6. Hard hats were given to the workers. Hard hats for all workers were a new idea.
Go here to see my full article on the Hoover Dam: http://www.helium.com/items/1328043-hoover-dam-facts-and-history
I’m contrasting this with the Moehne Dam, in Germany … there was more about the people that knocked it down (W/Cdr Guy Gibson VC and 617 Squadron, aka ‘The Dam Busters’) than there was about its construction.
That’s an interesting contrast, Keith. I vaguely remember seeing that movie “Dam Busters” as a teenager, but didn’t think of it in this context.