In the Military there is a long standing tradition that you do not march soldiers over a bridge in step. When marching and approaching a bridge the command of Route Step, MARCH is given. This command keeps the soldiers marching in formation, but every soldier is allowed to march at her/his own step. Although this is widely practiced in the Army, I found very few who knew the reason why.

What could have possibly prompted this tradition?

Having a troop of soldiers marching synchronously shall produce vibrations that shall exceed the natural frequency of the bridge causing it to collapse.When they step according to their own free will,the destructive interference shall reduce considerably the frequency of vibration of the bridge,so it won't break.

P.S:The credit for this answer goes to my 11th grade Physics teacher,she posed us the same problem when I was in the 11th grade.I sure hope that Bruce Brantley isn't her internet name.

Posted by Rex on 2005-04-16 15:03:28