| ▲ | irishcoffee 12 hours ago | |
That isn't how safety factors work... The person you're responding to is correct. I encourage you to look it up! | ||
| ▲ | StevenWaterman 9 hours ago | parent [-] | |
Safety factors account for uncertainty. Uncertainty the quality of materials, of workmanship, of unaccounted-for sources of error. Uncertainty in whether the maximum load in the spec will actually be followed. Without a safety factor, that uncertainty means that, some of the time, some of your bridge will fall down | ||