Leaning tower
Classical Mechanics
Level
2
On the edge of a wall, you build a brick tower that only holds because of the bricks' own weight. Your goal is to build a stable tower whose overhang \(d\) is greater than the length \(l\) of a single brick. What is the minimum number of bricks you need?
Note: Each brick has the same mass \(m\) and uniform density. There is only one brick per layer. No gluing is allowed.
Bonus Question: If enough bricks are available, can any desired value of the overhang be achieved? If so, how can the number of bricks required be estimated?
by
Markus Michelmann