The 660 tonne golden ball that holds a skyscraper still

Taipei 101 is 508m tall and built where typhoons and earthquakes meet, so it wants to sway. Hanging near the top, between the 87th and 92nd floors, is a 660 tonne golden steel ball - a tuned mass damper. When the tower leans one way, the ball swings the other and drags it back, cutting the sway by up to 40%. It even swung visibly through a magnitude 7.2 earthquake in 2024. Full breakdown on the channel. Free structural engineering tools from CivilAxis - search CivilAxis.