Career Paper: Demolition Engineer

1330 Words3 Pages

In a garden, the goal is to keep it clean of weeds. If you let the weeds grow, they can quite possibly take over the whole garden. Explosive demolition is the weed puller of buildings. It is key in keeping whole communities up to date. It may be hard to think that using explosives can actually make an area safer, but these professionals do it all of the time. If a building is not structurally sound, there is the chance that it can collapse at any time. This is why explosive demolition is so important because it basically weeds out the buildings that have the potential to harm people. Being an explosive demolition engineer takes hard work, critical thinking, and perseverance.

Explosive demolition is the method of choice when it comes to taking down larger structures with no collateral damage. Basically, if you remove the support structure of a building at a certain point, the section of the building above that point will fall down on the part of the building below that point. If this upper section is heavy enough, it will collide with the lower part with “sufficient force to cause significant damage” (Harris). There is alot of thinking involved in taking down a building and that is why it is such a long process. “A building implosion is actually one of the most precisely planned, delicately balanced engineering feats you'll ever see” (Harris). Some people may think that demolition engineers are just the people who blow up the buildings, but this is not true. In my opinion, demolition engineers are almost like “reverse architects.” “The demolition engineer has physically worked with, manipulated and pulled apart more buildings than probably most structural engineers will ever design in a lifetime”(Clark).

Buil...

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...job is reflected on a successful demolition. This job is exotic and definitely one of my options in the future.

Works Cited

Clark, Rob. “Role of the Structural Engineer in Demolition.” R W Clarke LTD. Beng Ceng Mice Mistructe, 2009. Web. 16 Jan. 2012. .

Harris, Tom. “How Building Implosions Work.” HowStuffWorks. A Discovery Co., 13 Jan. 2012. Web. 13 Jan. 2012. .

Institute of Demolition Engineers. Yudu. Cloud Publishing Platform, Jan.-Feb. 2012. Web. 16 Jan. 2012. . This is a demolition engineering magazine.

MyMajors. “Demolition Engineer Career Information.” MyMajors. N.p., Jan. 2012. Web. 16 Jan. 2012. .

Petroski, Henry. Invention by Design. N.p.: Harvard UP, 1996. 188. Print.

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