Construct · 1 fields · 2 citations

arch: a standalone construct

One name. One construct. A landmark on the map.

● anchor · a standalone construct Nearest construct by meaningkeystonecompare the meanings
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Every construct on the map is compared with every other by the meaning of its definitions, and the closest one is surfaced here. The nearest construct to arch is keystone.

Hold this as a prompt, not a verdict. Two constructs sitting close in meaning is a reason to read them side by side and decide for yourself whether they are one idea under two names. It is not proof that they are. Compare the meanings in the Collider.

arch1 CONSTRUCTArch curveHOOKE · IDEAL CURVE

A single standalone construct; nearby constructs are located against it in the Collider. Tap a field for its definition, unit, and measures.

Mathematics and mechanics

The ideal curve of an arch under its own weight

The curve an arch would take to carry its own weight in pure compression, which is the shape of a hanging chain turned upside down. Hooke stated this in 1675 as a coded anagram in A description of helioscopes, later decoded as ut pendet continuum flexile, sic stabit contiguum rigidum inversum (as hangs a flexible cable, so, inverted, will stand the rigid arch), and Gregory's 1697 Catenaria gave the first mathematical treatment of that hanging curve. The referent is an abstract curve, the catenary or a related parabola that fixes the ideal thrust line, not a built structure or a part of the body.[1][2]

Unit
One idealized curve, the catenary or the shape of a hanging chain, fixed by its span and sag
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Derived mathematically from the load and the support conditions, then compared against a built arch's actual profile

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Nearby constructs

arc4 fields · 8 citationsjingle · one word, four constructsspan3 fields · 6 citationsjingle · one word, three constructsload6 fields · 7 citationsjingle · one word, six constructs

References

  1. Hooke, R. (1675). A description of helioscopes, and some other instruments. John Martyn.
  2. Gregory, D. (1697). Catenaria. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 19(231), 637–652.

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