It’s not easy to imagine an object that weighs 800 tons. An eight hundred-ton object weighs over 1 million pounds — 1,760,000 pounds to be exact.
So, to put it in perspective, this article will identify things that weigh 800 tons. Due to the extremity of the size, the weight of the objects identified will be over 1 million pounds, but below 2 million.
Keep in mind these are some of the heaviest objects in the world.
- Radiation Door (1.44 million pounds)
- Antonov An-225 Mriya Cargo Aircraft (1.28 million pounds)
- Power Station Transformer (1.28 million pounds)
- Union Pacific Big Boy (1.2 million pounds)
- Cumulus Cloud (1.1 million pounds)
- Three SAGE Computer Systems
- Two of the World’s Heaviest Boulders
- Six Bells of Good Luck
1. Radiation Door
The heaviest door in the world can be found in Japan. It was installed in December 1994 at the National Institute for Fusion Science.
The radiation shield is more than 38 feet high, over 37 feet wide, and is almost 7 feet thick. The door weighs 1.44 million pounds which is a bit below 800 tons, but very heavy non the less.
The National Institute for Fusion Science is one of a five-member research corporation responsible for promoting research in the natural science fields of astronomy, material science, and bioscience.
2. Antonov An-225 Mriya Cargo Aircraft
The Antonov An-225 Mriya is a strategic airlift cargo aircraft designed with the Soviet Union during the 1980s.
It is the heaviest aircraft ever built, with the highest maximum takeoff weight of any aircraft at 1.28 million pounds, also less than 800 tons but still very heavy.
The aircraft was designed to airlift rocket boosters and orbiters for the Soviet Union space program, which was similar to the U.S.’s shuttle carrier aircraft. Only two of these planes were ever built.
3. Power Station Transformer
The United Kingdom is credited for having the heaviest object ever transported – a power station that weighed 1.28 million pounds. In 2013, the transformer was moved to Bristol from Oxfordshire.
That caused police to have to escort the object and close down streets, as it made its way at a maximum speed of 10 miles per hour. After it arrived in Bristol, the transformer was transported by sea to a Siemens plant in Germany.
The power station was disconnected from the national grid in March after 43 years of service.
4. Union Pacific Big Boy
The union pacific big boy is a steam locomotive that was manufactured between 1941 and 1944. It was operated by the Union Pacific Railroad until 1959.
The locomotives were built to haul freight over the Wasatch mountains between Ogden, Utah, and Green River, Wyoming. Only eight of the 25 locomotives are still in existence — and can be seen on display at museums across the country.
The Big Boy had the longest engine body of any reciprocating steam locomotive. It was the 2nd heaviest steam locomotive ever built with a 772,250-pound engine and a 436,500-pound tender for a total of over 1.2 million pounds.
5. Cumulus Cloud
What may be a surprise to some is that clouds have a weight. The average cumulus cloud weighs 1.1 million pounds and can reach up to as heavy as 1.76 million pounds or 800 tons.
To paint a more vivid picture, that’s about 100 elephants. You may not have considered that a cloud actually has weight. But the air has weight (1 1/2 pounds per square inch), and because air has weight it must also have density.
A cloud is made of water drops or ice crystals floating in the sky. That comes to be because the sky can be full of water at any given time.
That water, that’s too small for you to see with your naked eye, turns into a gas called water vapor. From that point, it’s a matter of the clouds forming as the vapor goes higher in the sky.
Those droplets consist of weight and density. The weight is determined by the weight of the water droplets inside the cloud.
6. Three SAGE Computer Systems
SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment) is the world’s physically largest computer system. It was first used in 1957 at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey and spanned 20 locations.
The system was used to analyze data about possible attack scenarios from the Soviet Union and its allies during the Cold War. Its operation ended in the 1980s. The weight of three SAGE systems is a little over 800 tons.
7. Two of the World’s Heaviest Boulders
In 2012, a big boulder trekked from a quarry in Riverside County to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (approximately 105 miles apart).
It is believed to be the heaviest boulder ever transported, and it was brought to the museum by a 176-wheel truck. The huge boulder became the centerpiece of a reveal, Levitated Mass, which opened to the public later that year in June.
It was also featured in a documentary that premiered at the 2013 Los Angeles Film Festival. Two of the same-sized boulders would weigh slightly less than 800 tons.
8. Six Bells of Good Luck
The largest bell in the world is located near the tallest statue in the world, near the Spring Temple Buddha in China.
The Bell of Good Luck was cast in December 2000 and first rung at midnight on New Year’s Eve of that same month.
Measuring about 24 feet tall and more than 15 feet wide, the bell is considered the heaviest in the world. Six bells together would weigh slightly less than 800 tons.
