Game of Thrones Season 8 is about to come out. So it got me thinking, could humans actually build 'The Wall'?? // This episode was sponsored by CuriosityStream! Get 30 days for FREE and support the show: (promo code: trace) The FINAL SEASON of #GameofThrones is upon us, and like the Starks have been saying for the last decade, “Winter is Coming,” or, rather, it’s here! The Wall is falling down, but I’ve been wondering something for a long time… Could we even BUILD The Wall in the first place? I talked to experts in #engineering, ice sculpting, ice sheets and glaciers to see if modern science could figure out how the heck Bran the Builder erected that giant wall of ice that ultimately failed. While everyone else argues about who’s going to win the throne, why not trip down science fantastic with me in this episode of #HelloScience!
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This article is fantastic. It was written by a handful of engineers who looked at the wall and thought — hmmm could we actually build that? (In case you’re wondering, yes this is what it’s like to go to the movies with me.)
Here is a study (an actual study!) about the mechanical properties of ice / snow
And if you’re still in fantasy world, here’s George R.R. Martin describing the building of the wall in a Wiki of Ice and Fire
=== 😘 SPECIAL THANKS 😘 ===
Griffin Louis for shooting with Rex last minute!
Mara Tsudis for washing her hair and getting fancy for camera. (Have fun at your wedding, girl!)
The Exploratorium for connecting me to Mary Miller and being so accommodating. Visit them when you’re in San Francisco, CA!!
Nick Uhas for his help and encouragement! Check him out on YouTube at
All my nerdfam Patrons, without whom I could never have afforded to pop down to LA and talk to Mara!
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P.S — The bottom bumping out and smushing is an issue with ANY building material. Even plastic LEGO bricks smush if the structure is too heavy, Smushing one 2x2 brick would take over 430 kilograms. Since each brick is 9.6 mm, to smush the bottom brick you’d need a skinny column of 375,000 bricks or about 3.6 kilometers tall. Lego + Game of Thrones?! TWO OF MY FAVORITE THINGS.
P.P.S — Also, we should have known this wall would fail, The Great Wall didn’t keep out the Mongols, Hadrian’s Wall didn’t stop the Britons, The Berlin Wall didn’t keep Germany separated, so of course The Wall in Game of Thrones eventually falls. Walls don’t work. We have to figure out a solution outside of walling-off any perceived problems (whether they are real or are fake news).
P.P.P.S – The largest ice sculpture in the world was created in China in 2018. It’s called the Flamenco Ice Tower and it stands 31 metres tall. It took two years to build, and just FYI it AIN’T JUST ICE. It is “fibre-reinforced ice sprayed on a huge inflatable.” Hmm. 🤔
And finally, the first 10 people to DM me on Twitter with the translation of the Dothraki in the video will get a sticker. 😉 Good luck! 😁
Love you, #nerdfam! Stay #curious!
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