If the University of Leicester’s Charles Wilson building were a transformer, how much fuel would it need to stand up?

Derryn GRANT

Abstract


In 1966, construction of the now infamous Charles Wilson building was completed. Unknown to its designer, Sir Denys Lasdun, it would later be affectionately known as the Optimus Prime building due to its uncanny resemblance to the transformer. A transformer being from the popular children’s franchise in which cars have the ability to transform into sentient, humanoid robots. This paper aims to quantify the amount of fuel that would be needed for the building to stand, if it were a transformer.  The energy needed for the Charles Wilson building to stand up, like a transformer, is approximately 281.02 MJ, requiring 7.34 L of kerosene and making the motion less fuel efficient than a Boeing 747.


Keywords


Comic; Physics; Architecture; Mechanics; Charles Wilson Building; Transformers; Optimus Prime

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References


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