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Practical Engineering

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’16’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25’26
Posts
213 from 1 Oct 2016 to 20 Oct 2026
Posting
weekly (24 in the last year)
Kind
personal blog
Feed
https://practical.engineering/blog?format=rss

2026 20

  1. Whatever Happened to Fire Escapes?
  2. The Hidden Engineering of Pressure Regulators
  3. Every US Electrical Outlet Explained
  4. Stopping the Unstoppable
  5. Are Beavers Actually Good at Dams?
  6. The Grid That Doubles the Strength of the Ground
  7. What's Under Your Feet in New York City?
  8. The Bizarre Flaw in the New Orleans Levees
  9. How to Demolish a Bridge
  10. Why Roads Get Washboards
  11. Fixing the Most Dangerous Dam in the World
  12. The Physics Behind the Thumb Trick
  13. The Wild Story of the Teton Dam Failure
  14. This Spillway Failed On Purpose
  15. The Los Angeles Aqueduct is Wild
  16. Earthquake-Proof Foundations
  17. So You Want to Build a Tunnel...
  18. Do Retention Ponds Actually Work?
  19. The Hidden Engineering of Runways
  20. Recreating an Ancient Pump (with no moving parts)

2025 24

  1. Sawing a Dam in Half (on Purpose) — Practical Engineering
  2. Hurricane vs. Tiny House — Practical Engineering
  3. The Hidden Engineering Behind the Falkirk Wheel — Practical Engineering
  4. Concrete’s Greatest Weakness — Practical Engineering
  5. The Hidden Engineering of Niagara Falls — Practical Engineering
  6. The Bizarre Bases of Antenna Towers — Practical Engineering
  7. An Engineer's Perspective on the Texas Floods — Practical Engineering
  8. The Weirdest Tool in Underwater Construction — Practical Engineering
  9. California’s Tallest Bridge Has Nothing Underneath — Practical Engineering
  10. Why Are There No Short Arch Dams? — Practical Engineering
  11. The Hidden Engineering of Floating Bridges — Practical Engineering
  12. The Hidden Engineering of Liquid Dampers in Skyscrapers — Practical Engineering
  13. How Sewage Recycling Works — Practical Engineering
  14. Why are Smokestacks So Tall? — Practical Engineering
  15. The Most Implausible Tunneling Method — Practical Engineering
  16. When Abandoned Mines Collapse — Practical Engineering
  17. When Kitty Litter Caused a Nuclear Catastrophe — Practical Engineering
  18. Why Are Beach Holes So Deadly? — Practical Engineering
  19. This Bridge’s Bizarre Design Nearly Caused It To Collapse — Practical Engineering
  20. All Dams Are Temporary — Practical Engineering
  21. An Engineer’s Love Letter to Cable-Stayed Bridges — Practical Engineering
  22. What’s Inside a Manhole? — Practical Engineering
  23. Why are the Dutch So Famous for Waterworks? — Practical Engineering
  24. The Hidden Engineering Behind Texas's Top Tourist Attraction — Practical Engineering

2024 23

  1. The Hidden Engineering of Wildlife Crossings — Practical Engineering
  2. What’s the Deal with Base Plates? — Practical Engineering
  3. Which Power Plant Does My Electricity Come From? — Practical Engineering
  4. Why Are Cooling Towers Shaped Like That? — Practical Engineering
  5. The Wild Story of the Taum Sauk Dam Failure — Practical Engineering
  6. Is the World Really Running Out of Sand? — Practical Engineering
  7. When Infrastructure Gets Hacked — Practical Engineering
  8. The Hidden Engineering of Landfills — Practical Engineering
  9. Why Are Texas Interchanges Texas So Tall? — Practical Engineering
  10. How French Drains Work — Practical Engineering
  11. When Natural Gas Had No Smell — Practical Engineering
  12. Why Bridges Don't Sink — Practical Engineering
  13. This Bridge Should Have Been Closed Years Before It Collapsed — Practical Engineering
  14. The Most Confusing Part of the Power Grid — Practical Engineering
  15. Every Kind of Bridge Explained in 15 Minutes — Practical Engineering
  16. How Bridge Engineers Design Against Ship Collisions — Practical Engineering
  17. Connecting Solar to the Grid is Harder Than You Think — Practical Engineering
  18. How Do Fish Ladders Work? — Practical Engineering
  19. How the Hawaiian Power Grid Works — Practical Engineering
  20. How Fish Survive Hydro Turbines — Practical Engineering
  21. How To Install a Pipeline Under a Railroad — Practical Engineering
  22. Why Locomotives Don't Have Tires — Practical Engineering
  23. How The Channel Tunnel Works — Practical Engineering

2023 30

  1. How Railroad Crossings Work — Practical Engineering
  2. How Engineers Straightened the Leaning Tower of Pisa — Practical Engineering
  3. Why Railroads Don't Need Expansion Joints — Practical Engineering
  4. Engineering The Largest Nuclear Fusion Reactor — Practical Engineering
  5. Which Is Easier To Pull? (Railcars vs. Road Cars) — Practical Engineering
  6. HEAVY CONSTRUCTION of a Sewage Pump Station - Ep 5 — Practical Engineering
  7. Why There's a Legal Price for a Human Life — Practical Engineering
  8. HEAVY CONSTRUCTION of a Sewage Pump Station - Ep 4 — Practical Engineering
  9. Why Are Rails Shaped Like That? — Practical Engineering
  10. HEAVY CONSTRUCTION of a Sewage Pump Station - Ep 3 — Practical Engineering
  11. Every Type of Railcar Explained in 15 Minutes — Practical Engineering
  12. HEAVY CONSTRUCTION of a Sewage Pump Station - Ep 2 — Practical Engineering
  13. Do Droughts Make Floods Worse? — Practical Engineering
  14. HEAVY CONSTRUCTION of a Sewage Pump Station - Ep 1 — Practical Engineering
  15. Every Construction Machine Explained in 15 Minutes — Practical Engineering
  16. Where Does Grounded Electricity Actually Go? — Practical Engineering
  17. Philadelphia I-95 Bridge Collapse Explained — Practical Engineering
  18. Why Is Desalination So Difficult? — Practical Engineering
  19. Was Starship’s Stage Zero a Bad Pad? — Practical Engineering
  20. How Flood Tunnels Work — Practical Engineering
  21. Merrimack Valley Gas Explosions: What Really Happened? — Practical Engineering
  22. Why Bridges Need Sensors (and other structures too) — Practical Engineering
  23. East Palestine Train Derailment Explained — Practical Engineering
  24. Why Engineers Can't Control Rivers — Practical Engineering
  25. Why Construction Projects Always Go Over Budget — Practical Engineering
  26. Why Rivers Move — Practical Engineering
  27. The Only State Capital Where You Can’t Drink the Water — Practical Engineering
  28. Why Some Roadways Are Made of Styrofoam — Practical Engineering
  29. What Really Happened with the Substation Attack in North Carolina? — Practical Engineering
  30. How Different Spillway Gates Work — Practical Engineering

2022 23

  1. How This Bridge Was Rebuilt in 15 Days After Hurricane Ian — Practical Engineering
  2. What Is A Black Start Of The Power Grid? — Practical Engineering
  3. How Long Would Society Last During a Total Grid Collapse? — Practical Engineering
  4. How Would a Nuclear EMP Affect the Power Grid? — Practical Engineering
  5. Endeavour's Wild Journey Through the Streets of Los Angeles — Practical Engineering
  6. What's the Difference Between Paint and Coatings? — Practical Engineering
  7. What Really Happened at the New Harbor Bridge Project? — Practical Engineering
  8. These Metals Destroy Themselves to Prevent Rust — Practical Engineering
  9. What Really Happened During the Yellowstone Park Flood? — Practical Engineering
  10. You Spend More on Rust Than Gasoline (Probably) — Practical Engineering
  11. What Happens When a Reservoir Goes Dry? — Practical Engineering
  12. How Do You Steer a Drill Below The Earth? — Practical Engineering
  13. 4 Myths About Construction Debunked — Practical Engineering
  14. The Bizarre Paths of Groundwater Around Structures — Practical Engineering
  15. How We Track COVID-19 (And Other Weird Stuff) In Sewage — Practical Engineering
  16. How Wells & Aquifers Actually Work — Practical Engineering
  17. The Engineering Behind Russia's Deadlocked Pipeline: Nord Stream 2 — Practical Engineering
  18. What Sewage Treatment and Brewing Have in Common — Practical Engineering
  19. The Most Mindblowing Infrastructure in My City — Practical Engineering
  20. How to Clean Sewage with Gravity — Practical Engineering
  21. What Really Happened During the 2003 Blackout? — Practical Engineering
  22. Can You Pump Sewage? — Practical Engineering
  23. Why Buildings Need Foundations — Practical Engineering

2021 22

  1. Rebuilding the Oroville Dam Spillways — Practical Engineering
  2. Why Retaining Walls Collapse — Practical Engineering
  3. What Really Happened at the Millennium Tower? — Practical Engineering
  4. Why SpaceX Cares About Dirt — Practical Engineering
  5. What Really Happened At Edenville and Sanford Dams? — Practical Engineering
  6. Why SpaceX Cares About Concrete — Practical Engineering
  7. Repairing Underground Power Cables Is Nearly Impossible — Practical Engineering
  8. Why Things Fall Off Cranes — Practical Engineering
  9. Surfside Condo Collapse: What We Know So Far — Practical Engineering
  10. Why Cranes Collapse — Practical Engineering
  11. What Really Happened at the Arecibo Telescope? — Practical Engineering
  12. How Sewers Work — Practical Engineering
  13. What Really Happened at the Hernando de Soto Bridge? — Practical Engineering
  14. The Fluid Effects That Kill Pumps — Practical Engineering
  15. What Really Happened at the Oroville Dam Spillway? — Practical Engineering
  16. Do Pumps Create Pressure or Flow? — Practical Engineering
  17. What Really Happened at the Suez Canal? — Practical Engineering
  18. Flow and Pressure in Pipes Explained — Practical Engineering
  19. What Really Happened During the Texas Power Grid Outage? — Practical Engineering
  20. What is Storm Surge? — Practical Engineering
  21. Why Do Beaches Disappear? — Practical Engineering
  22. How Do Flood Control Structures Work? — Practical Engineering

2020 12

  1. Why Do Engineers Invent Floods? — Practical Engineering
  2. How Do Cities Manage Stormwater? — Practical Engineering
  3. How Does Permeable Pavement Work? — Practical Engineering
  4. How Do Potholes Work? — Practical Engineering
  5. The World’s Most Recycled Material — Practical Engineering
  6. How Are Highway Speed Limits Set? — Practical Engineering
  7. Why Does Road Construction Take So Long? — Practical Engineering
  8. What is a Culvert? — Practical Engineering
  9. How Do Canal Locks Work? — Practical Engineering
  10. Why Do Pipes Move Underground? — Practical Engineering
  11. What is Air Lock? — Practical Engineering
  12. What is a Trompe? — Practical Engineering

2019 16

  1. How Does a Hydraulic Ram Pump Work? — Practical Engineering
  2. How Power Blackouts Work — Practical Engineering
  3. World's Largest Batteries - (Pumped Storage) — Practical Engineering
  4. How do Electric Transmission Lines Work? — Practical Engineering
  5. How Do Substations Work? — Practical Engineering
  6. How Electricity Generation Really Works — Practical Engineering
  7. How Does the Power Grid Work? — Practical Engineering
  8. How Do Spillways Work? — Practical Engineering
  9. How Do Traffic Signals Work? — Practical Engineering
  10. Modeling Storm Hydrology — Practical Engineering
  11. Drowning Machine: The Dangers of Low Head Dams — Practical Engineering
  12. What is a Weir? — Practical Engineering
  13. What is a Hydraulic Jump? — Practical Engineering
  14. How Water Towers Work — Practical Engineering
  15. What is Prestressed Concrete? — Practical Engineering
  16. Was Roman Concrete Better? — Practical Engineering

2016 4

  1. Rivers on mars and other uses for hydraulic river models
  2. Whats that infrastructure hydraulic structures episode 3
  3. Practical engineering featured on engineering commons podcast
  4. Technical illustration of desktop watt balance

Undated 39

  1. Does rebar rust
  2. Why the tacoma narrows bridge collapsed
  3. Why tunnels dont collapse
  4. What is fluid cavitation
  5. What are cosmic rays
  6. Why does concrete need reinforcement
  7. What is concrete
  8. Why do bridges move
  9. How to collapse a pipe by closing a valve
  10. What is a steam hammer
  11. What is a water hammer
  12. How soil destroys buildings
  13. How quicksand causes dam failures 1
  14. How to super size the eclipse sun funnel
  15. How does land surveying work
  16. How do sinkholes form
  17. The physics of falling back in your chair
  18. The disaster that changed engineering hyatt regency walkway failure
  19. Whats that infrastructure wireless telecommunications
  20. Automatic bell siphon explained
  21. Welding 101 for hobbyists and nerds
  22. Whats that infrastructure subsurface utilities episode 4
  23. Redefining the kilogram desktop watt balance
  24. Whats that infrastructure transportation episode 2
  25. Magnetic flow meter
  26. Whats that infrastructure transportation episode 1
  27. Sphere earth
  28. Water barometer and other experiments in hydrostatics
  29. Artificial meteor showers and re entry engineering
  30. Mechanically stabilized earth aka mse reinforced soil
  31. Why do baseball bats break
  32. Yoyo de
  33. The 100 year flood is not what you think it is
  34. Tuned mass dampers in skyscrapers
  35. Arduino garden controller
  36. Groundwater flow model
  37. Particle photon weather station
  38. International space station orbit tracker and pointer
  39. Arcade style puzzle box mini game