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▲ metalman 20 hours ago

not good, not good at all, as this is how ALL bridges and towers are supported, the basic engineering bieng that any cable end will be stronger than the cable itself and will last longer than the cable itself, except now, when it isn't, not good, not easy to inspect, not easy to service.

▲ceejayoz 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> Long-term low-current electroplasticity, induced by the electromagnetic waves from the Arecibo telescope itself, may have sped up the zinc creep, it says.

I presume we aren't using most bridges as interstellar antennas.

▲tejtm 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> I presume we aren't using most bridges as interstellar antennas.

any like area of metal will receive as much interstellar emissions but I guess they did run a MW transmitter sometimes.

▲AngryData 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

No, but there is a lot of potential for large structures to act like an accidental antenna and/or receive low level voltages from the environment or other equipment.

Likely won't matter in most cases, but there could be a few disasters waiting around.

▲xattt 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

That’s what the government (… and most rational people) wants you to think.

▲grim_io 3 hours ago | parent [-]

how could the government control the birds without using bridges as antennas?!

▲jryb an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This would predict that we should be seeing far more mystery collapses than we do though

▲msandford 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

They also mentioned that this is the first example of the unknown phenomena that caused the creep. This technology has been in use quite successfully for more than 100 years.

▲sanex 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Bridges probably shouldn't be subject to the same electromagnetic radiation that gets focused by the telescope though so ideally not a problem there.

▲drum55 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Where the cables were there’s nothing focused, just wires, it was outside of the dish.

▲ 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]
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