Sand Castle Holds Up A Car! - Mechanically Stabilized Earth
Sand Castle Holds Up A Car! - Mechanically Stabilized Earth on HackerTube: recommended by 2 Hacker News commenters across 2 separate months, 2016–2026.
Practical Engineering explains Mechanically Stabilized Earth, where layers of reinforcement make soil strong enough to hold heavy loads, shown with a sand structure supporting a car. It notes that MSE walls are everywhere in infrastructure.
What HN commenters said
6 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
davidwfJan 2021Recommends
I keep a Google Document of these to share just in case people ask about my YouTube interests. I Actually Watched All of Them I have actually watched ALL of the videos on these channels and I don’t even feel bad about it :-) I actually like new videos from some of the ones below (like NativLang, for example) but they maybe don’t hold up in the early videos. - Space Time: PBS Physics, sooo good -- [link] -- Great first video: [link] - Lindsay Ellis: Really, really intelligent video essays about film and culture -- [link] -- Great First Video: [link] - Periodic Videos: Chemistry, including a video for every element -- [link] -- Great first video (obviously): [link] Other Math and Science - 3Blue1Brown: Amazing math visualizations -- [link] -- Great first video, how e^pi*i works: [link] - NumberPhile: Fun math videos -- [link] -- Great first video: [link] - PBS Eons: Biology! -- [link] -- Great first video: [link] - PBS Infinite Series: Math math math, really really hard math -- [link] -- Great first video: [link] - SciShow: Science! More poppy but fun -- [link] -- Silly first show: [link] -- Actual physics: [link] - VSauce: Science-y? -- [link] -- Great first video: [link] - Practical Engineering: -- [link] -- Great first video: ▶ this video Other Humanities - Alliterative: Connections via language -- [link] -- Great first video about gin and gimlets: [link] - Bon Appetit: Such fun food stuff! -- Gourmet Makes: [link] -- It’s Alive: [link] - Masaman: Genetics and human migration (an
in “Ask HN: What YouTube channels do you subscribe to?” · View on HN
cwkossAug 2018Recommends
I wonder if sheets of a cloth-like material could be used in loading similar to Mechanically Stabilized Earth Practical Engineering has a great video on this simple but pervasive technology. ▶ this video
in “Cargo ships that sink when their cargo suddenly liquefies” · View on HN
milesvpAug 2026Cites it
I was suprised to see the use of wiremesh in sand castle building some years ago. Same concept though. You add something that helps with shear strength and you can build much taller sand buildings. It’s really counter intuitive to see too, since the sand could clearly sieve through the mesh. Ha! just looked up the video, seems it’s another practical engineering video I was thinking of ▶ this video
in “The Grid That Doubles the Strength of the Ground” · View on HN
houragoApr 2023Cites it
It reminds me of the video "Sand Castle Holds Up A Car! - Mechanically Stabilized Earth" - ▶ this video
in “The Ancient Architecture That Defies Earthquakes” · View on HN
afarrellApr 2017Cites it
Ooooh, these are nice. Here are mine: Extra History: stories of historical incidents — [link] Real Engineering: mostly materials science — [link] - Wendover Productions — mostly transportation - [link] Tom Scott: a bit of everything — [link] - Jay foreman: Urban planning and maps — [link] The Engineer Guy: Manufacturing — [link] Practical Engineering: Mostly Civil Engineering — ▶ this video 3Blue1Brown: Math, visualized to me more intuitive — [link]
in “Ask HN: How do you unwind at the end of a day?” · View on HN
steamer25Nov 2016Cites it
Reminds me of reinforced earth which I learned about from this video: ▶ this video (which is also from the pretty great Practical Engineering channel).
in “The Most Effective Weapon on the Modern Battlefield Is Concrete” · View on HN