engineering

Giddy House

Giddy House is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Giddy House rather than just read about it. In short: First built in 1888 near Fort Charles, Jamaica, Giddy House was originally a Royal Artillery House meant to store weapons and gunpowder for the adjacent Victoria and Albert Battery. After Port Royal was struck by an earthquake in 1907, Giddy House partially sank into the ground as a result of soil liquefaction.

Key takeaways

Giddy House belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Giddy House to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Giddy House from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

First built in 1888 near Fort Charles, Jamaica, Giddy House was originally a Royal Artillery House meant to store weapons and gunpowder for the adjacent Victoria and Albert Battery. After Port Royal was struck by an earthquake in 1907, Giddy House partially sank into the ground as a result of soil liquefaction. Its nickname, Giddy House, comes from the feeling visitors have when trying to stand straight while inside.

History Giddy House was constructed in 1888 as a Royal Artillery House at Fort Charles. Fort Charles is one of the oldest forts in Port Royal. Located on the western end of the Palisadoes Strip, Fort Charles was built by the British after Jamaica was taken from the Spaniards. The Fort was initially named Fort Cromwell after a general at the time but was later redubbed Fort Charles. The military stronghold was initially damaged in the earthquake that rocked ‘The Most Sinful City on Earth’ in 1692; the natural disaster sunk a large portion of Port Royal and killed thousands of residents. Fort Charles was rebuilt in 1699 by the chief engineer of Jamaica at the time. On Monday, 14 January 1907, an earthquake almost leveled Kingston and Port Royal. The damage in Kingston amounted to 2 million pounds, and around 800 people had been killed. In Port Royal, 180 meters of the coastline had sunken as well. It was in this earthquake that much of Fort Charles and the Giddy House had been destroyed. Many of the fort’s cannon and guns sunk into the sand, its buildings and docks were badly damaged. Some areas of the fort had disappeared altogether. Giddy House received its name from the odd angle at which the building is tilted. Recently, Jamaica’s Tourist Enhancement Fund (TEF) designated 72 million Jamaican dollars to the enhancement town of Port Royal, as well as maintaining the heritage sites.

References

The Gleaner. "Experience Jamaica." Museums In The Capital City. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2012. <http://jamaica-gleaner.com/pages/experiencejamaica/capitalcity.html>. Hamilton, Donny L. "Port Royal Project: Home." Port Royal Project: Home. Nautical Archaeology Program, 14 Feb. 2011. Web. 13 Oct. 2012. <http://nautarch.tamu.edu/portroyal/ Archived 27 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine>. Jamaica. Jamaica Information Service. Department of Tourism. TEF Funds Beautification of Heritage Tourism Sites. JIS, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2012. <https://archive.today/20121219024735/http://www.jis.gov.jm/component/content/article/113-tourism/21588-indus_tourism-tef-funds-beautification-of-heritage-tourism-sites>. Tortello, Rebecca. "A Special Gleaner Feature on Pieces of the Past – Disaster the Earthquake of 1907 -The First 500 Years in Jamaica." A Special Gleaner Feature on Pieces of the Past – Disaster the Earthquake of 1907 -The First 500 Years in Jamaica. N.p., 14 Jan. 2002. Web. 13 Oct. 2012. <http://jamaica-gleaner.com/pages/history/story0017.html>. Williams, Paul H. "Port Royal Waiting to Be Embraced." The Gleaner. N.p., 25 Sept. 2011. Web. 13 Oct. 2012. <http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110925/news/news3.html>.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Giddy House

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Giddy House claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Giddy House before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Giddy House ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Giddy House

In research: Giddy House appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Giddy House in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Giddy House is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Buildings and structures completed in 1888, Buildings and structures in Kingston, Jamaica, Government buildings completed in 1888, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Giddy House outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Giddy House in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Giddy House means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Giddy House out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Giddy House in simple terms?

Why does Giddy House matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Giddy House?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Giddy House.