Answers.Body: <p>Great question. Others may have better answers for a more "realistic" design, but the math for a solid structure is actually pretty quick. Take the Empire State Building for example:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Height: 381m
  Base: 129m x 57m
  Volume: 381m × 129m × 57m = 2 801 493m³
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>And a basic 2x4 brick:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Volume: 31.8mm × 15.8mm × 9.6mm = 4.823424e-6 m³
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The number of bricks needed to simply fill the volume is total volume over brick volume, so:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Number of bricks: 2 801 493 / 4.823424e-6 = 580 810 022 092 bricks
  Weight: 580 810 022 092 bricks * 2.32g = 1 347 479 metric tons
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Basically, you're looking at 580 billion bricks weighing in at <strong>~1.3 million metric tons</strong> for a solid structure the size of the Empire State Building.</p>
  
  <p>This puts you at about a fifth of an Empire State Building's worth of bricks dumped in the ocean in 2014.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-04-11T16:36:09.247Z
Answers.Text: Yeah, a quick back of the envelop estimate for building a double layer shell, along with 102 double thick floors only comes to about 4,000,000,000 bricks. However, you'd use less if you modelled windows and doors, more for interior walls and stair cases ;)
Answers.UserDisplayName: Zhaph - Ben Duguid
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-04-06T03:29:20.747Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2018-04-11T15:54:27.583Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2018-04-11T15:54:27.583Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: jncraton
Body: <p>As an exercise designed to communicate the scale of plastic waste in the oceans, which was estimated at <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0111913" rel="noreferrer">268,940 tons</a> in 2014, I'm trying to describe how many life-size buildings one could construct with your basic 2x4 lego pieces of the same weight. A believe a 2x4 piece is <a href="https://www.cailliau.org/Lego/Dimensions/zMeasurements-en.xhtml" rel="noreferrer">31.8mm long, 15.8mm wide, and 9.6 mm tall, not including the studs</a>, and <a href="https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=3001#T=C" rel="noreferrer">2.32g</a>.</p>
  
  <p>Naturally, I don't aspire to simulate skyscrapers that anyone could actually live in, but I'm trying to come up with a defensible estimate for the number of bricks in, say, a Lego Empire State Building (1,250' tall, not including the spire).</p>
  
  <p>One idea is to imagine building a solid structure that is completely enclosed. Another is to make a hollow one with double-layered floors and a solid base.</p>
  
  <p>Forgive me for the open-ended question, but is anyone familiar with the mechanics of how one builds a extremely large structure with Lego pieces that, while not necessarily structuring sound for human consumption, and least holds together?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-04-07T21:53:33.197Z
Comments.Text: I would have thought that the bricks would collapse under their own weight, but alas, you could build up to a couple of kilometres high! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2242973/How-Lego-bricks-stacked-the-breaks.html
Comments.UserDisplayName: Simppa
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-04-11T16:12:22.917Z
Comments.Text: Apparently you could build a tower of 2x2 bricks 3.5km tall [before it starts to collapse under it's own weight](https://bricks.stackexchange.com/a/4320/56) (2x4 bricks would probably collapse sooner). See also What's the [Largest LEGO Construction Ever](https://bricks.stackexchange.com/q/97/56) for an example of a (full size, albeit around a metal frame) house made from 3.3 million bricks.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Zhaph - Ben Duguid
Tags: <building><scale>
Title: How many 2x4 Lego bricks would it take to build a real skyscraper?
UserDisplayName: Chris Wilson
ThreadText: # How many 2x4 Lego bricks would it take to build a real skyscraper?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2018-04-06)
  
  As an exercise designed to communicate the scale of plastic waste in the oceans, which was estimated at [268,940 tons](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0111913) in 2014, I'm trying to describe how many life-size buildings one could construct with your basic 2x4 lego pieces of the same weight. A believe a 2x4 piece is [31.8mm long, 15.8mm wide, and 9.6 mm tall, not including the studs](https://www.cailliau.org/Lego/Dimensions/zMeasurements-en.xhtml), and [2.32g](https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=3001#T=C).
  
  Naturally, I don't aspire to simulate skyscrapers that anyone could actually live in, but I'm trying to come up with a defensible estimate for the number of bricks in, say, a Lego Empire State Building (1,250' tall, not including the spire).
  
  One idea is to imagine building a solid structure that is completely enclosed. Another is to make a hollow one with double-layered floors and a solid base.
  
  Forgive me for the open-ended question, but is anyone familiar with the mechanics of how one builds a extremely large structure with Lego pieces that, while not necessarily structuring sound for human consumption, and least holds together?
  
  **Tags:** building, scale
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: I would have thought that the bricks would collapse under their own weight, but alas, you could build up to a couple of kilometres high! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2242973/How-Lego-bricks-stacked-the-breaks.html  
  > **username_2**: Apparently you could build a tower of 2x2 bricks 3.5km tall [before it starts to collapse under it's own weight](https://bricks.stackexchange.com/a/4320/56) (2x4 bricks would probably collapse sooner). See also What's the [Largest LEGO Construction Ever](https://bricks.stackexchange.com/q/97/56) for an example of a (full size, albeit around a metal frame) house made from 3.3 million bricks.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2018-04-06. Score: 7
  
  Great question. Others may have better answers for a more "realistic" design, but the math for a solid structure is actually pretty quick. Take the Empire State Building for example:
  
  ```
  Height: 381m
  Base: 129m x 57m
  Volume: 381m × 129m × 57m = 2 801 493m³
  
  ```
  
  And a basic 2x4 brick:
  
  ```
  Volume: 31.8mm × 15.8mm × 9.6mm = 4.823424e-6 m³
  
  ```
  
  The number of bricks needed to simply fill the volume is total volume over brick volume, so:
  
  ```
  Number of bricks: 2 801 493 / 4.823424e-6 = 580 810 022 092 bricks
  Weight: 580 810 022 092 bricks * 2.32g = 1 347 479 metric tons
  
  ```
  
  Basically, you're looking at 580 billion bricks weighing in at **~1.3 million metric tons** for a solid structure the size of the Empire State Building.
  
  This puts you at about a fifth of an Empire State Building's worth of bricks dumped in the ocean in 2014.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_2**: Yeah, a quick back of the envelop estimate for building a double layer shell, along with 102 double thick floors only comes to about 4,000,000,000 bricks. However, you'd use less if you modelled windows and doors, more for interior walls and stair cases ;)  
  
  ---
  
  