# High-rise windows **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 13, 2007, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-rise-windows/395794 "2007-03-13T21:01:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![iano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@iano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iano)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2007, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-rise-windows/395794/1 "2007-03-13T21:01:43Z")
What might you reasonably expect the floor-to-ceiling windows on a high-rise to stand up against? Can I run into it? Can I throw a baseball at it? I know of a suicide on the Met Life building using a briefcase to smash open a window, but that’s all… ---
**Author:** ![Sonia\_Montdore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Sonia\_Montdore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonia_Montdore)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2007, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-rise-windows/395794/2 "2007-03-13T21:05:18Z")
[QUOTE=iano] What might you reasonably expect the floor-to-ceiling windows on a high-rise to stand up against? Can I run into it? Can I throw a baseball at it? I know of a suicide on the Met Life building using a briefcase to smash open a window, but that’s all… [/QUOTE] Garry Hoy didn’t know the answer to that question, either: [Did a Man Die Demonstrating a Window's Strength? | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/window.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2007, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-rise-windows/395794/3 "2007-03-13T21:20:04Z")
When I lived on the 23rd floor the place had regular windows that you would find in ground level buildings. They wouldn’t have stopped anything. I believe that Eric Claptons son fell from an open window on the 56th floor. Don’t imagine they were special either since you could open them. And didn’t the windows on the John Handcock building in Boston just sort of pop out on there own? But at least they were insured by John Handcock! ---
**Author:** ![Sonia\_Montdore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Sonia\_Montdore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonia_Montdore)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2007, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-rise-windows/395794/4 "2007-03-13T21:43:07Z")
[QUOTE=Si Amigo] …And didn’t the windows on the John Handcock building in Boston just sort of pop out on there own?..! [/QUOTE] Window glass falling out of the John Hancock Buildlng in Boston was a huge problem for several years back in the 70s. The police several times closed the streets around the building to prevent glass landing on pedestrians and vehicles. For years, the building was studded with plywood that covered gaps where windows had fallen out. I remember going to a halloween party back in the 70s. The best costume award was won by a man who went as the Hancock Building. He wore two sheets of plywood fore and aft, like a sandwich board, and carried a small tape recorder that emitted sounds of breaking glas ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2007, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-rise-windows/395794/5 "2007-03-13T22:31:32Z")
[QUOTE=Sonia Montdore] Garry Hoy didn’t know the answer to that question, either: [Did a Man Die Demonstrating a Window's Strength? | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/window.asp) [/QUOTE] Mythbusters confirmed this as well. The windows were shown to be surprisingly ineffective at resisting heavy impacts with the pressure differences. ---
**Author:** ![iano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@iano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iano)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2007, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-rise-windows/395794/6 "2007-03-13T23:01:14Z")
So if I’m working in the Sears Tower and I trip and hit the glass (OK, hard), that’s it? These may be windows, but they’re foremost exterior walls… surely there are codes on this?