>2,300 students ... The rope, provided by Pennsylvania Power and Light Co., had been intended for use in heavy construction, and was rated to withstand 13,000

>2,300 students ... The rope, provided by Pennsylvania Power and Light Co., had been intended for use in heavy construction, and was rated to withstand 13,000 pounds of stress. What's astounding is that at least in this case simple arithmetic could have shown it was unsuitable - since 13,000 / 2,300 is just 5.6 pounds - a force any below-average middle schooler can obviously exert at least briefly (being well under 10% of their body weight and for reference the weight of less than two stacked 13-inch Macbook Pro notebooks[1] -- which would weigh 6 pounds. A gallon of milk weighs 8.6 pounds.) It could have been expected that perhaps every one of those students would exert it continuously through the whole contest to say nothing of their maximum extra effort on top of it. While 13,000 pounds is very strong - a full 6.5 tons - it sounds like a simple arithmetic check could have saved the disaster mentioned in the write-up. The lesson - or at least one lesson - is, never feel above a simple calculation. [1] https://s.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/10/dsc08906.jpg https://s.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/10/dsc0890...