Lectec Everyday Science

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Engineering

Clear explanations of structural, mechanical, civil, and everyday engineering through real objects and places.

Why Gateway Is Turning the Hudson Riverbed Into Stone

Why Gateway Is Turning the Hudson Riverbed Into Stone

Before tunnel-boring machines can carve a new rail link into Manhattan, engineers must transform the Hudson’s soft mud and reclaimed shoreline into ground strong enough to hold them.

Concorde: The Airliner Built Backwards From Mach 2

Concorde: The Airliner Built Backwards From Mach 2

Its needle nose, delta wing and thunderous engines made supersonic travel possible, but physics, regulation and one catastrophic accident narrowed Concorde’s world.

How Engineers Restored a Ride That Will Never Run Again

How Engineers Restored a Ride That Will Never Run Again

Restoring Coney Island's Parachute Jump meant dismantling parts of a 262-foot steel landmark because wrapping it for paint removal could turn it into a giant sail.

The Coney Island Cyclone Is Designed to Move

The Coney Island Cyclone Is Designed to Move

The Coney Island Cyclone has survived since 1927 because its wooden structure can flex, be repaired, and keep changing without losing the ride itself.

How 56 Leonard Became New York's Jenga Tower

How 56 Leonard Became New York's Jenga Tower

56 Leonard looks like a stack of blocks, but its irregular apartments depend on air rights, walking columns, hidden trusses, and a water tank at the top.

Air Conditioning Was Invented to Save a Brooklyn Print Job

Air Conditioning Was Invented to Save a Brooklyn Print Job

Willis Carrier's first modern air-conditioning system was not built for human comfort. It was built to stop humid Brooklyn air from ruining magazine printing.

How One South First Carries Apartments Over Open Air

How One South First Carries Apartments Over Open Air

One South First at Domino looks like part of it is floating, because its apartments bridge across a gap above the Williamsburg waterfront.

How the Fountains of Bellagio Learned to Dance

How the Fountains of Bellagio Learned to Dance

The Bellagio fountains became a Las Vegas icon by treating water less like plumbing and more like a cast of performers.

Why Your Ears Usually Do Not Pop in a Skyscraper Elevator

Why Your Ears Usually Do Not Pop in a Skyscraper Elevator

High-speed elevators move fast enough to change air pressure, but engineers design the ride so your ears can usually keep up.

161 Maiden Lane: The Leaning Tower on Manhattan's Made Land

161 Maiden Lane: The Leaning Tower on Manhattan's Made Land

161 Maiden Lane is an unfinished leaning skyscraper on Manhattan's reclaimed shoreline, where foundation choices matter because the ground is partly made land.

How New York Cleans Windows Hundreds of Feet in the Air

How New York Cleans Windows Hundreds of Feet in the Air

New York's window washers moved from ledges and leather belts to roof machines, suspended platforms, and now robots, but the job still carries real risk.

200 West Street: How Goldman Sachs Cools Its Headquarters With Ice

200 West Street: How Goldman Sachs Cools Its Headquarters With Ice

Inside Goldman Sachs' 200 West Street headquarters, cooling is not just air conditioning. It is an ice-storage strategy built around New York's energy grid.