AQUiLA MAGAZINE
FRIENDSHIP GIANTS !
Walk the Burj Khalifa
HARVEY ’ S MISSION
When it comes to giant buildings , the Burj Khalifa in Dubai , United Arab Emirates , is the biggest of them all . It is over four-fifths of a kilometre high , topping off at 830 metres . Work started on the building in 2004 and it was officially opened in 2010 . As a record holder , its list of achievements is impressive . These include : tallest free-standing structure , highest number of storeys , highest observation deck , highest restaurant and longest lift travel distance . The weight of concrete in the building is equivalent to 100,000 elephants ; the metal used would construct five Airbus A380 aircraft and there are over 20,000 glass panels . It ’ s hard to truly appreciate how colossal this thing is – so Harvey has a mission to help . You ’ re going to walk out the height of the building in a straight line ! It ’ s going to be quite a walk , so you will need to use a large open field without hedges or fences or possibly a long stretch of sand at the seaside when the tide is out . Remember , you will need to walk almost a kilometre from start to finish . Tie those shoelaces up and let ’ s go !
ACTIVITY SKILLS
1 hour +
DIFFICULTY
GET STARTED
STEP 1 :
Discuss the best way to measure 830 metres . You could use a tape measure . Some are 50 m long . Maybe you could use your own special 8.30 m tape 100 times . You might prefer to walk the height using a trundle wheel , which will click every time you have covered a metre . If you want , you can mark out the line with string but remember you will need plenty of it . Use beanbags to weigh the string down and keep it from blowing away . If you don ’ t have enough string , use flags , beanbags or cones to mark the distance at regular intervals , as in STEP 2 .
YOU WILL NEED o An adult helper
o A trundle wheel or tape measure
o A large , empty space o Large balls of string o Beanbags o Marker sticks o Flags or cones
TIP : Can ’ t find a big enough space for the whole Burj Khalifa ? Try measuring half the distance instead , then simply divide the buildings in STEP 4 by two to retain a sense of scale .
STEP 2 :
To make the counting easier , stop at every 100 metres , mark the spot with a pole , flag or cone , and then start counting again . If friends can stand along the route , that ’ ll help too .
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