Building Implosions

On Monday I posted a couple videos of a building at my place of employment that was demolished with such precision that only a few fragments were sent flying and broke a couple of nearby windows.  All that remains is a pile of rubble in a small, confined place, and I mean literally just a few feet from the building I work at.  Here are couple images courtesy of Zachary Magnuson (a Facebook friend and fellow employee at MD Anderson Cancer Center), of the building's remains.

So......  since we are on the topic of implosions, I wanted to post the following video.  It is from the International Society of Explosive Engineers (ISEE) conference that was held in Las Vegas in January of 2003.  The video highlights the implosions from the previous year. Unfortunately, the ISEE eventually alienated the structural blasting component of the society, so these highlight videos were discontinued.  According to their YouTube description,  "Implosionworld's footage is now mostly seen on Discovery Channel and National Geographic documentaries, etc."

The difference between explosions and implosions is that one tends to go outward, and the latter inward.  And regardless of how fascinating these images are, the amount of technique and precision that goes into this job is extremely vital.  When engineers are hired to implode a structure, "the technique involves the firing of precisely placed demolition charges in specific timed intervals that use gravity to cause the center of the building to fall vertically while simultaneously pulling the sides inward, a process often erroneously described as an implosion." [source]

It's a pretty cool video, so check it out.  You'll see huge structures coming down, from bridges and sport stadiums to office buildings and Hotels.