The Tacoma Bridge Disaster

The 1.9 kilometers long Tacoma Narrows Bridge (called Galloping Gertie) was the first suspension bridge across the Pudget Sound, connecting the Olympic Peninsula with the mainland of Washington state (U.S.A.; North America).

Four months after its opening, on the morning of 7 November 1940, in a wind bet­ween 65 and 75 kilometers per hour the bridge went into a series of tor­si­o­nal os­cil­la­tions which passed into the bridge's natural resonance frequency. The amplitude stea­di­ly increased until the bridge span broke up.

Note: Playing the movie requires Flash player or similar software.

Loading the player ...

Return to Chapter 2, "Resonance".