Wrecking ball

Wrecking ball during the demolition of the mill storage facility in Dresden-Plauen (2010)

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Wrecking ball when a silo was demolished in Uetersen (2011)

A demolition ball , even steel mass , Abbruchbirne , iron bag , impingement ball , demolition ball or debris bulb , is a tool for the demolition of buildings .

A wrecking ball consists of a pear-shaped or spherical piece of steel with a mass of 500 kg to 8000 kg. It is hung on a rope excavator and made to oscillate by rotating the excavator (see video). It absorbs kinetic energy through the pendulum movement. If the wrecking ball hits the wall to be torn down , it will be overloaded and break. The method works well for masonry; it is of limited use in thick reinforced concrete ; this is due to the high (tensile) strength of reinforced concrete.

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