A massive crane is used to demolish this tower block in northern England

Demolition is the opposite of construction: the tearing-down of buildings and other structures. Download high resolution version (480x640, 79 KB)Personal picture taken by Mick Knapton on 19th November 2004 Released under the license. ... Download high resolution version (480x640, 79 KB)Personal picture taken by Mick Knapton on 19th November 2004 Released under the license. ... Antonyms (from the Greek words anti = against and onoma = name) are word pairs that are opposite in meaning, such as hot and cold, fat and thin, and up and down. ... Construction on the North Bytown Bridge in Ottawa, Canada. ... Building is either the act of creating an object assembled from more than one element, or the object itself; see also construction. ... The structure of a thing is how the parts of it relate to each other, how it is put together. This contrast with process, which is how the thing works; but process requires a viable structure. ...

For most buildings, such as houses, that are only two or three storeys high, demolition is a rather simple process: the building is simply pulled down by excavators or bulldozers (see photo below, left). Larger buildings need the use of a wrecking ball that is swung into the sides of the buildings. Wrecking balls are especially effective against masonry. This process is quite slow, but it puts the operator of the demolition equipment at a safe distance from any falling debris. In recent years this technique has fallen out of favour because of its slowness. Houses in Fishpool Street, St Albans, England For other meanings of the word house, see House (disambiguation). ... A tracked excavator An excavator is an engineering vehicle consisting of a backhoe and cab mounted on a pivot (turntable is a more apt description) atop an undercarriage with tracks or wheels. ... A bulldozer is a powerful crawler ( caterpillar tracked tractor) equipped with a blade. ...

Large buildings, tall chimneys, and increasingly some smaller structures are destroyed by implosion by explosives. Imploding a building is very fast—the collapse itself only takes seconds—and an expert can ensure that a building falls into its own footprint, so as not damage neighbouring structures. This is essential as most tall structures are in dense urban areas. Any error can be disastrous, however, and some demolitions have failed, severely damaging neighbouring structures. The greatest danger is from flying debris which, when improperly prepared for, can kill onlookers. Even more dangerous is when a building fails to collapse completely. This often leaves the structure tilting at a dangerous angle and filled with undetonated explosives, making it impossible for workers to approach. Many of the dangers of a building's demolition can be seen in the destruction of the World Trade Center by terrorists in 2001; its collapse destroyed several neighbouring buildings, and damaged others beyond repair. Flying debris injured and killed those nearby and a huge swath of Manhattan was covered in dust and debris. Chimney stacks on a Newcastle upon Tyne building A chimney is a system for venting hot gases and smoke from a stove, furnace or fireplace to the outside atmosphere. ... Implosion is a reverse explosion that concentrates matter and energy. ... This article is concerned solely with chemical explosives. ... The twin towers, photographed from the west The World Trade Center in New York City was a complex of seven buildings around a central plaza, near the south end of Manhattan in the downtown financial district. ... 2001 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Manhattan (disambiguation). ...

With heavy equipment, demolition of a house is a two man job that can be completed in a day or two.

A building takes several weeks to be prepared for implosion. All items of value, such as copper wiring, are stripped from a building. Some materials such as glass that can form deadly projectiles, insulation that can cover a wide area, and other materials also must be removed. Selected columns are drilled and nitroglycerin and TNT are placed in the holes. Smaller columns and walls are wrapped in explosive cables. The goal is to use as few explosives as possible, and only a few floors are rigged with explosives. The areas with explosive are covered in thick plastic and fencing to absorb flying debris. Far longer than the demolition itself is the cleaning up of the site where the debris most be loaded into trucks and carted away. The physics definition of a glass is a uniform amorphous solid material, usually produced when a suitably viscous molten material cools very rapidly, thereby not giving enough time for a regular crystal lattice to form. ... Nitroglycerin (also nitroglycerine, trinitroglycerin, or glyceryl trinitrate) is a chemical compound, a heavy, colorless, poisonous, oily, explosive liquid obtained by nitrating glycerol. ... Trinitrotoluene (TNT) is a pale yellow crystalline aromatic hydrocarbon compound that melts at 354 K (178 °F). ...

The destruction of large buildings has become increasingly common as the massive housing projects of the 1960s and 1970s are being levelled around the world. The tallest deliberately demolished building was the forty-seven storey Singer Building of New York City, which was built in 1908 and torn down sixty years later to be replaced by One Liberty Plaza. Public housing describes a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. ... Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s - 1960s - 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s Years: 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 Events and trends The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around the world. ... Events and trends Although in the United States and in many other Western societies the 1970s are often seen as a period of transition between the turbulent 1960s and the more conservative 1980s and 1990s, many of the trends that are associated widely with the Sixties, from the Sexual Revolution... The Singer Building at Liberty Street and Broadway in Manhattan, New York was an office building completed in 1908 as the headquarters of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. ... State nickname: Empire State Other U.S. States Capital Albany Largest city New York Governor George Pataki Official languages None Area 141,205 km² (27th)  - Land 122,409 km²  - Water 18,795 km² (13. ... 1908 is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...