<story><title>How tall can a Lego tower get?</title><url>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20578627</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>wbracken</author><text>I already knew legos were strong without this research.&lt;p&gt;For instance, I know for a fact from legos left on the floor by kids that one lego can hold my entire weight (240 pounds) when I step on it in the middle of the night walking to the bathroom with no signs of damage to said lego.&lt;p&gt;Further, I know that one lego can by itself topple a fully grown man.</text></comment>
<story><title>How tall can a Lego tower get?</title><url>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20578627</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>D_Alex</author><text>&amp;gt;The average maximum force the bricks can stand is 4,240N. That&amp;#x27;s equivalent to a mass of 432kg (950lbs). If you divide that by the mass of a single brick, which is 1.152g, then you get the grand total of bricks a single piece of Lego could support: 375,000.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;So, 375,000 bricks towering 3.5km (2.17 miles) high is what it would take to break a Lego brick.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;&amp;quot;That&amp;#x27;s taller than the highest mountain in Spain. It&amp;#x27;s significantly higher than Mount Olympus [tallest mountain in Greece], and it&amp;#x27;s the typical height at which people ski in the Alps,&amp;quot; Ian Johnston says (though many skiers also ski at lower altitudes).&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;&amp;quot;So if the Greek gods wanted to build a new temple on Mount Olympus, and Mount Olympus wasn&amp;#x27;t available, they could just - but no more - do it with Lego bricks. As long as they don&amp;#x27;t jump up and down too much.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Well, in theory you can go as high as you want, by tapering the tower towards the top. The 3.5 km limit is only valid for straight, constant cross-section structures.&lt;p&gt;Which mountains certainly are not.</text></comment>