the.com/girder
the unsung skeleton holding up every skyline you've ever bragged about visiting
means A large beam, usually of steel or iron, used as a main horizontal support in a building or bridge.
from From the verb 'gird,' from Old English 'gyrdan,' to encircle or bind — the same word behind girding your loins for battle. A girder, then, is literally a 'binder': the thing that braces and ties a structure together. The '-er' suffix turns the act of binding into the object that does it.
- shape
- The I-beam profile maximizes strength per pound of steel
- etymology
- From Old English meaning to gird or encircle
- riveters
- Early skyscrapers were assembled by men tossing hot rivets midair
- forth bridge
- Scotland's 1890 girders used 54,000 tons of steel
- flex
- Good girders bend slightly under load by design
for instance
burj khalifa core girder — dubai's 2,717-foot tower relies on massive steel girders in its central core, completed 2010