THE FALLING TOWER
You can see a bell tower that leans in the town of Pisa, Italy. What
does it lean against? Nothing.
It’s called the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and it’s been leaning more and
more ever since it was built about 700 years ago. Some say that long ago
the great Italian scientist Galileo dropped weights from the tower to
learn how fast things fall. Even then, the tower was a leaning tower.
And today, little by little, one side of the tower keeps on sinking into
the soft ground. The Leaning Tower tips about an inch every nine years.
The farther it leans out of line the faster it tips.
You can climb stairs to the top of the tower and see the bells that once
called people to a nearby church. But no one rings the bells now. The
clanging might make the tower fall faster.
The government of Italy once offered a prize for the best plan to keep
the tower from falling any farther. Some people have ideas, but nothing
has been done yet.
If the Leaning Tower ever falls, it will be the end of what some people
say is one of the seven wonders of the modern world.
