Under Pressure

Torture device or future home building material?

Researchers decided to find out just how much punishment one little 2x2 LEGO brick could take.

They put it under a hydraulic press and kept adding pressure until it finally failed.

The answer? About 950 pounds.

Think about that. This little piece of plastic could withstand the equivalent weight of more than [XXX] ordinary bricks like the one in this photograph.

Of course, anyone who has stepped barefoot on a LEGO in the middle of the night probably already knows these little bricks can take a lot of punishment—and give some too!

But 950 pounds?

That makes me wonder…

If LEGO bricks are this strong, why aren’t we building houses with them?