# How tall can a building be?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-can-a-building-be/90195
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 29, 2001, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-can-a-building-be/90195 "2001-10-29T00:42:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2001, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-can-a-building-be/90195/1 "2001-10-29T00:42:49Z")
How tall can a man made and comfortably inhabitable structure be within the limits of current engineering and material technologies?
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### Author:  [@ScottHaneda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScottHaneda)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2001, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-can-a-building-be/90195/2 "2001-10-29T01:13:19Z")
I wold say there are a few factors, if you will allow for the building to be infinitely large as in surface area at the ground, they I say limitless, with one catch…the taller you go, the heaver it gets, the heaver, the more heat from frictions, and the more heat, will eventually melt the cement foundation right out from under it.
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### Author:  [@NeutronJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NeutronJack)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2001, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-can-a-building-be/90195/3 "2001-10-29T01:17:41Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by ScottHaneda \*
> \*\*the heaver, the more heat from frictions, and the more heat, will eventually melt the cement foundation right out from under it. \*\*
Friction? What friction? What two substances are rubbing against each other to produce friction?
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### Author:  [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2001, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-can-a-building-be/90195/4 "2001-10-29T01:17:54Z")
[Howstuffworks](http://actionsplash.com/HS1_19b.asp?uncache=0.007592111049966266) says:
> [@](#):
>
> Experts are divided about how high we can really go in the near future. Some say we could build a mile-high (5,280 ft / 1,609 m) building with existing technology, while others say we would need to develop lighter, stronger materials, faster elevators and advanced sway dampers before these buildings were feasible.
Not a definitive answer, I know.
Does anyone remember a proposal (IIRC, Japanese) to build an elevator to an orbitting building?
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### Author:  [@ScottHaneda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScottHaneda)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2001, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-can-a-building-be/90195/5 "2001-10-29T01:37:24Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Friction? What friction? What two substances are rubbing against each other to produce friction?
I do not think friction implies rubbing, but rather oposing forces, I ice cube will melt faster if you put a heavy weight on it, I am totally making educated guesses on this 🙂
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### Author:  [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2001, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-can-a-building-be/90195/6 "2001-10-29T01:55:02Z")
I am Captain Google …
Again, not like it answers anything definitively but this is a cool little article at a cool little site …
[Frank Lloyd Wright’s Mile High Skyscraper](http://www.feedmag.com/streetlevel/chifeat.html)
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### Author:  [@fandango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fandango)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2001, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-can-a-building-be/90195/7 "2001-10-29T02:47:15Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Ringo \*
> \*\*
>
> Does anyone remember a proposal (IIRC, Japanese) to build an elevator to an orbitting building? \*\*
I recall hearing that Poland was sending a manned spacecraft to the sun. Don’t worry, they’re going at night.
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2001, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-can-a-building-be/90195/8 "2001-10-29T02:53:24Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Ringo \*
> [B
> Does anyone remember a proposal (IIRC, Japanese) to build an elevator to an orbitting building? \*\*
No it’s those damn fool [Americans](http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast07sep_1.htm) who are planning this.
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### Author:  [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2001, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-can-a-building-be/90195/9 "2001-10-29T03:52:46Z")
I read somewhere a while back a mile high building is now possible.
No, I don’t remember where I read it. So don’t ask for a cite.
🙂
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### Author:  [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2001, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-can-a-building-be/90195/10 "2001-10-29T07:11:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by ScottHaneda \*
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > \*Originally posted by MrNeutron \*
> > Friction? What friction? What two substances are rubbing against each other to produce friction?
>
> \*\*I do not think friction implies rubbing, but rather oposing forces, I ice cube will melt faster if you put a heavy weight on it, I am totally making educated guesses on this 🙂 \*\*
As best I can tell, these two statements have nothing to do with each other.
Friction does involve motion.
Ice cubes melt under pressure because of the negative slope of the solid-liquid line on the phase diagram for H[sub]2[/sub]O. (This also indicates that solid ice is less dense than liquid water.)
Finally, long before the concrete melts :D, I expect you will exceed its compressive strength and simply crush the foundation (or the support members).