By: Marlee Mandel 7A

The 911 memorial is a memorial for all the civilians in the building and fire fighters who died on September 11, 2001 when the twin towers were hit. It is a giant square waterfall outlined with names of the people who were killed. There are two large waterfalls that stand in the approximate place where the twin towers stood. National September 11 memorial and museum At the National World Trade Center One Liberty Plaza, 20 th floor New York, NY 10006

The 911 memorial waterfalls are unique. Firstly, they are the largest man made waterfalls in the entire United States. The first indentation is 30 feet deep. The second indentation is 70 feet below ground. The frame of the waterfalls (the walls) are made of dark granite. The panels on the top are made of bronze and the names of those who died are engraved on it. There are also some type of light bulbs and wires throughout the panels so that at night the names and bronze panels light up. Because of this, visitors to the memorial are able to come and see it in the evening when it is dark outside. The water being forced out of the side panels is an applied force because naturally the water wouldn’t go necessarily in a certain direction. When the water reaches the end of the side panel and is about to drop, it is a non contact force. Gravity is pulling the water down and therefore there is no objects coming in contact together. The live load would be the water or the panels and the dead load would be the actually structure (the dark granite). The 911 memorial is a dynamic load because once the water reaches the 30 feet deep level, it moves by itself into the 70 feet deep hole without gravity pushing/ pulling it. The memorial is a solid structure because it relies on its materials to support the load. Even though the load (water) has very little weight, it still was needed to be taken into consideration. It was also very important for the people who constructed it to make sure all the materials were waterproof to make sure the water wouldn’t damage the base.

Structurally, there is no purpose of the waterfalls. However, they are there to remember the people who died. The water spills from the top of the walls into chasms in the middle and then falls into the deeper one. The water comes back up to the top and repeats its movement all over again. The builders and designers made the waterfall to function like this because they wanted it to represent recovery. They wanted to show that even though some one could fall down and be hurt, they can get back up to the top. The waterfall is also meant to drown out the sounds of the city. It is also meant for the visitors to realize how lucky they are to be alive. In my opinion, I think the waterfalls capture the event and allow you to see how many innocent people were killed. It is very reflective for people.

*The whole memorial couldn’t be over $5 million. *The designs of the waterfalls were made by Davis Brody. *Pieces of the leftover steel from the original twin towers are in the museum. *They started to construct the waterfalls in *There are 400 trees surrounding the waterfalls. *There were complaints about the memorial because people wanted it to be above ground and not below. *It first opened on September 12, 2011.

“New York’s 9/11 Memorial”.Trip Honey.com.Trip Honey. January 11, January 23, 2012 Haskell, Peter “Crews Testing 9/11 Memorial Waterfall Ahead of Site’s Official Opening”. CBS New York. CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. August 10, waterfalls-ahead-of-sites-official-opening/. January 24, Topousis, Tom “9/11 Memorial’s Fountains Flow”. New York Post.New York Post. November 10 th, mfsTZnQXglL8bnU68I. January 26, 2012 “National September 11 Memorial and Museum” Wikipedia.com.Wikipedia. February 2, eum. January 25,2012