CN Tower Over Rodger's Centre
The tower stands 1,815 feet, 5 inches high, or the equivalent of 12 Statues of Liberty stacked on top of each other. (And while we're making comparisons, it weighs 130,000 tons, equal to 23,214 large elephants.)
Opened in 1976, the tower was developed by Canadian National, a railroad corporation, as a way to show off to the world that Canada had the industrial strength to construct such an engineering marvel. It has made Canadians proud ever since.
The tower also serves a practical purpose. After a 1960s building boom in Toronto, broadcasters found that their transmission towers weren't tall enough to send signals above the new skyscrapers, and the city's television and radio reception declined. The CN Tower, with its microwave receptors and antennas, cleared up the problem.
From the base of the tower, visitors are whisked aloft on six high-speed elevators with gasp-inducing glass fronts, traveling at 15 miles per hour and taking just 58 seconds to reach the Look Out level at 1,136 feet. Just one level below this, a glass floor puts Toronto literally at your feet; you're looking 1,122 feet straight down! (Relax, the glass floor is plenty strong -- it could support 14 large hippos.)
A separate elevator makes the final ascent of another 33 stories to the Sky Pod. From here, at 1,465 feet, you can enjoy a view of more than 100 miles in every direction, taking in Toronto, Lake Ontario, and even Niagara Falls on a clear day. At the top of the tower, observers can actually look down on airplanes approaching the city airport.
One final comparison: If you stacked Canadian dollar coins, which Canadians call "loonies," as high as the CN Tower, they would total $283,205.
CN Tower Over Rodger's Centre
The tower stands 1,815 feet, 5 inches high, or the equivalent of 12 Statues of Liberty stacked on top of each other. (And while we're making comparisons, it weighs 130,000 tons, equal to 23,214 large elephants.)
Opened in 1976, the tower was developed by Canadian National, a railroad corporation, as a way to show off to the world that Canada had the industrial strength to construct such an engineering marvel. It has made Canadians proud ever since.
The tower also serves a practical purpose. After a 1960s building boom in Toronto, broadcasters found that their transmission towers weren't tall enough to send signals above the new skyscrapers, and the city's television and radio reception declined. The CN Tower, with its microwave receptors and antennas, cleared up the problem.
From the base of the tower, visitors are whisked aloft on six high-speed elevators with gasp-inducing glass fronts, traveling at 15 miles per hour and taking just 58 seconds to reach the Look Out level at 1,136 feet. Just one level below this, a glass floor puts Toronto literally at your feet; you're looking 1,122 feet straight down! (Relax, the glass floor is plenty strong -- it could support 14 large hippos.)
A separate elevator makes the final ascent of another 33 stories to the Sky Pod. From here, at 1,465 feet, you can enjoy a view of more than 100 miles in every direction, taking in Toronto, Lake Ontario, and even Niagara Falls on a clear day. At the top of the tower, observers can actually look down on airplanes approaching the city airport.
One final comparison: If you stacked Canadian dollar coins, which Canadians call "loonies," as high as the CN Tower, they would total $283,205.