Rainbow SkyWalk

Rainbow Skywalk at the Top, Komtar Penang

Is glass a solid?

Over time, glass panes would be thicker at the base than at the top.  This makes it seem like glass is a liquid. People argue that glass is a solid/liquid, and some even say that it is a supercooled liquid. However, none of the above are so. Glass is actually an amorphous solid. An amorphous solid stands between the lines of solid and liquid.

It takes hundreds of years to notice that the glass has a thicker base as the "flow" is very slow. The movement of glass atoms are too minute for the change to be visible in a short period of time.

Glass is cooled too fast for the atoms to form a proper crystal-like structure. The glass atoms then slowly move so as to fill in the gaps in between the atoms. This creates the illusion that the glass is indeed "flowing".

Total area of Rainbow Skywalk

The formula used for the calculation of the area is the formula to find the area of a half-annulus. Therefore, the area of the Rainbow Skywalk is: { (pi*3)^2 - (pi*1.5)^2 } / 2 ~ 10.6 m^2.  

Based on the crowd density graph below, the safe loading limit is 3 person per meter square. Hence, the safe limit is about 10.6 x 3 = 31.8 persons. 

(Source: http://www.gkstill.com/Support/crowd-density/CrowdDensity-1.html) 

Maximum weight supportable by Rainbow Skywalk

If we assume that there are 31.8 persons on the skywalk and that the 
average body mass globally was 62 kg. The total weight per person is 620 N. 
(Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthnews/9345086/The-worlds-fattest-countries-how-do-you-compare.html) 

Hence, the total weight is 31.8 x 620 = 19,716 N 
Since the total area is 10.6 m^2.
The loading capacity is 19716/10.6 = 1860 N/m^2 or less than 2 kN/m^2 

This value is in line with the standard building loading capacity of 2 kN/m^2 to 4 kN/m^2. 

Measures taken to ensure safety on the Skywalk:

At any one time, there should be a maximum of 31 pax on the Skywalk. The other passengers should be prevented from entering the Skywalk.