🥯 Today’s Bite
The Eiffel Tower can grow up to 6 inches taller during summer because heat expands iron.
Every year in Paris, something quietly remarkable happens:
The Eiffel Tower grows.
Not metaphorically. Literally.
During hot summer days, the wrought-iron structure expands just enough to gain 4–6 inches in height. If the weather cools suddenly—say during a summer storm—the tower shrinks back down again.
It’s basically the world’s most photogenic accordion.
🌡️ Why Does It Grow? (The Simple Science)
To understand why this happens, you need one basic concept:
Thermal Expansion
When materials heat up, their particles move faster and spread out.
When they cool down, the particles slow and contract.
Iron, like most metals, expands when heated.
The Eiffel Tower is made of over 7,300 tons of iron, so even a tiny bit of expansion in each segment becomes very noticeable at the scale of a 324-meter (1,063-foot) structure.
How much expansion?
On hot days, temperatures can vary from 20°C to 45°C on the tower’s sun-facing side. This differential heat makes the metal expand by several centimeters—adding up to about 15 cm (6 inches) in height.
Think of it as the tower standing a little taller to enjoy the sunshine.
🔦 But It’s Not Just Height That Changes
The tower doesn’t just grow—it moves.
Because one side often heats more than the other, the Eiffel Tower can:
Slightly tilt away from the sun (a few centimeters)
Shift sideways
Experience small internal stresses the engineers accounted for
“Breathe” with the temperature, expanding and contracting throughout the day
Despite all this movement, the structure remains perfectly safe thanks to Gustave Eiffel’s original design, which brilliantly anticipated thermal expansion long before computers could simulate it.
🛠️ Fun Engineering Insight
The engineers who built the Eiffel Tower in the late 1800s actually used temperature as part of the construction process.
They connected iron beams early in the morning and late in the evening when temperatures were stable and metal wasn’t expanding unpredictably. This kept alignment precise.
Imagine assembling one of the world’s largest puzzles… while your pieces keep changing size.
📷 A Summer Tourist Tip
On extremely hot days:
The tower may be temporarily closed
Some elevators operate slower
Expansion joints visibly widen
The structure may sway a bit in strong wind
But here’s the cool part:
If you visit in July or August and ride to the top, you’re technically standing on the tallest version of the Eiffel Tower you can ever see.
Winter tourists? Sorry. Your tower is colder… and shorter.
🌍 The Bigger Picture: Everything Expands
Thermal expansion affects more than monuments:
Railway tracks need gaps to prevent buckling
Bridges include expansion joints
Pipes use flexible bends
Airplane wings can expand several centimeters during flight
Skyscrapers like the Burj Khalifa can change height by 4–5 inches seasonally
The Eiffel Tower is simply one of the few places where the effect is dramatic and beautifully visible.
🥯 Final Crumb
Next time someone posts a summer selfie at the Eiffel Tower, you can casually drop:
“Fun fact: You’re standing on a taller Eiffel Tower today.”
Because Paris isn’t just the city of love—
It’s the city of seasonally adjustable architecture.
That’s it for today. See you in the next edition!
Team Bagel Sync