# This office building is swaying in the wind **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 19, 2011, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-office-building-is-swaying-in-the-wind/600191 "2011-10-19T21:39:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-office-building-is-swaying-in-the-wind/600191/1 "2011-10-19T21:39:46Z")
I’ve never posted from work before, but these are exigent circumstances. I’m on the 84th floor of the Sears Tower (aka “Willis Tower”) and it’s an extremely windy day in Chicago. The building is creaking like a ship on the high seas, and I can occasionally feel slight movement. I know that the building is engineered to act like this, and it’s necessary to disperse the energy of the wind and yadda yadda yadda. But deep in my id, something is uncomfortable being 900 feet up and swaying like a tree branch. That’s all. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-office-building-is-swaying-in-the-wind/600191/2 "2011-10-19T22:06:04Z")
\*\*\*The office, my friend, is swayin’ in the wind, \*_ **the office is swayin’ in the wind…** _ ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-office-building-is-swaying-in-the-wind/600191/3 "2011-10-19T22:18:00Z")
Dang… I wonder how much the top floors of FL Wright’s proposed mile high skyscraper would sway? That is one building I want to see built! ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-office-building-is-swaying-in-the-wind/600191/4 "2011-10-20T09:56:07Z")
I’m glad I’m on the 5th floor of my office building, because when I go up to the upper floors (+15 and up) I can feel the sway and I get motion sickness. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-office-building-is-swaying-in-the-wind/600191/5 "2011-10-20T14:02:54Z")
Even in my mom’s 11 floor condo building you can still see the water swishing around in the toilet during high winds… ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-office-building-is-swaying-in-the-wind/600191/6 "2011-10-20T15:16:23Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Even in my mom’s 11 floor condo building you can still see the water swishing around in the toilet during high winds… In my old three-family house I could sometimes see a glass of water do the Jurassic Park thing. Wind? Probably not on the 3rd floor. Subway? That was several blocks away. Earthquake? Very unlikely. I still have no idea why it did that. ---
**Author:** ![Tio\_Gringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@Tio\_Gringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tio_Gringo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-office-building-is-swaying-in-the-wind/600191/7 "2011-10-20T15:37:50Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > In my old three-family house I could sometimes see a glass of water do the Jurassic Park thing. Wind? Probably not on the 3rd floor. Subway? That was several blocks away. Earthquake? Very unlikely. > > I still have no idea why it did that. Approaching _T. rex_? ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-office-building-is-swaying-in-the-wind/600191/8 "2011-10-20T15:44:35Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Even in my mom’s 11 floor condo building you can still see the water swishing around in the toilet during high winds… That may not be the building swaying (or maybe not entirely) so much as air pressure fluctuation from wind blowing over the vent pipes on the roof. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-office-building-is-swaying-in-the-wind/600191/9 "2011-10-20T15:46:00Z")
There was a building I worked at in Ottawa with a gym on the top floor. Every day at lunch when the aerobics class started you could watch see the sway of the building by watching the windows across the road. I used to have to leave the building for lunch in order to be able to eat. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-office-building-is-swaying-in-the-wind/600191/10 "2011-10-20T15:54:55Z")
> [@Randy\_Seltzer](#): > > I’ve never posted from work before, but these are exigent circumstances. I’m on the 84th floor of the Sears Tower (aka “Willis Tower”) and it’s an extremely windy day in Chicago. The building is creaking like a ship on the high seas, and I can occasionally feel slight movement. > > I know that the building is engineered to act like this, and it’s necessary to disperse the energy of the wind and yadda yadda yadda. But deep in my id, something is uncomfortable being 900 feet up and swaying like a tree branch. > > That’s all. Can you hang a pendulum and see how far it sways? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-office-building-is-swaying-in-the-wind/600191/11 "2011-10-20T15:55:42Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > > [@John DiFool](#): > > > > Even in my mom’s 11 floor condo building you can still see the water swishing around in the toilet during high winds… > > That may not be the building swaying (or maybe not entirely) so much as air pressure fluctuation from wind blowing over the vent pipes on the roof. Yeah, that is happening today in our one-story building. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-office-building-is-swaying-in-the-wind/600191/12 "2011-10-20T15:56:00Z")
> [@Tio\_Gringo](#): > > Approaching _T. rex_? That was my first thought, of course. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-office-building-is-swaying-in-the-wind/600191/13 "2011-10-20T16:22:03Z")
I can hear my building creaking too. -MOL, who is exactly one block from you right now. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-office-building-is-swaying-in-the-wind/600191/14 "2011-10-20T16:33:39Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Yeah, that is happening today in our one-story building. I’m reasonably high up and the other thing we get on windy days is a scraping sound in the elevator – the vented elevator shafts are having a similar pressure ebb and flow which bounces the cables against the cars. A bit unnerving at first. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-office-building-is-swaying-in-the-wind/600191/15 "2011-10-20T16:37:23Z")
Well, there’s only one thing to be done, get yourself a concert piano and [play a waltz](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8_t1D-oyuM&feature=related) as you roll around the office floor.