Comments on: Yikes! Sears Tower’s 1353-Foot High Glass Balconies

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:16:05 +0000

Standing in a building full of lawyers, I bet it's safe.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:08:03 +0000

Call me crazy, but I'd be willing to bet they had an engineer or two work out some calculations to see if the glass could hold people before they installed it. Not only that, I'd be willing to bet they calculated that it could hold as many corn-fed midwesterners as you could possibly cram in there, during a tornado, and then probably four times that. The managers of the building probably have an insurance policy that states that you can't have people falling to their deaths all the time, or else their premiums would go up.
The tensile strength of some glass is unknown, and possibly unknowable. Steel is tested for tensile strength on machines that essentially tear steel beams apart, but determine what forces the steel could take until it failed. When they use steel testing equipment to try to pull annealed, tempered glass apart, the equipment fails before the glass does. I'm going to do my Latin Celtic Scottish Danger Jig on that glass platform when I take my kids up to see it.

By: M.W.

M.W. — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 02:00:59 +0000

WE DID THIS ON THE WEEKEND, AND WOW IT IS SPECTACULAR

By: Lorne

Lorne — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:56:54 +0000

Awesome opportunity…also available in Canada at the CN Tower in Toronto…glass floor …but still neat!

By: G.S.

G.S. — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:47:46 +0000

Beautiful! But… I don't know if I had the courage :)

By: George

George — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 03:44:06 +0000

Planning to take my girlfriend there for her birthday, before dinner! Should be fun.

By: micktravis

micktravis — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 06:54:22 +0000

Possibly true, except that this is completely safe, so the kids' instincts are actually correct. Just because something is transparent doesn't mean it's not as strong as steel or concrete; it's your instincts that are askew.

By: Jackie

Jackie — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:09:59 +0000

Im going tonight and I can't wait!!!! It looks amazing…

By: Sears Tower Name Change Begins Today

Sears Tower Name Change Begins Today — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:17:03 +0000

[...] in the United States today. In other Sears/Willis Tower news, check out the recently revealed glass balconies on the Willis Tower’s 103rd floor. [via chicagotribune, image r.duran] Posted In: [...]

By: Dolly McPhillips

Dolly McPhillips — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:31:54 +0000

It said that it holds 5 tons? I think if I stood there I would feel like I weighed 5 tons,, and down i'd go, and I always say,, my last name is McPhillips and with that l ast name its been whatever can go wrong will, murphys law,, the Sears Tower is magnificent but you can keep the clear ledges,, the photos will be enough for me… thank you very much!!! haha

By: Diane Zemler

Diane Zemler — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:07:19 +0000

Absolutely not! No way… never in a million years, not for a million bucks. I shudder just thinking about it. I cannot stand to look at those little girls…..ooohhhhh my gosh.

By: danmihalache

danmihalache — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 16:13:22 +0000

great, but I think I’d get faint