As the famous New Year’s Eve Ball descends from the flagpole atop One Times Square in the center of New York City, NY, an estimated one million people in Times Square, millions nationwide and over a billion watching throughout the world are united in bidding a collective farewell to the departing year, and expressing our joy and hope for the year ahead.
- The Ball is a geodesic sphere, 12 feet in diameter, and weighs 11,875 pounds.
- The Ball is covered with a total of 2,688 Waterford Crystal triangles that vary in size, and range in length from 4 ¾ inches to 5 ¾ inches per side.
- The Ball is illuminated by 32,256 LEDs (light emitting diodes).
History
- in 1907 that the New Year’s Eve Ball made its first descent from the flagpole on One Times Square. Seven versions of the Ball have been designed to signal the New Year.
- The first New Year’s Eve Ball, made of iron and wood and adorned with one hundred 25-watt light bulbs, was 5 feet in diameter and weighed 700 pounds. It was built by a young metalworker named Jacob Starr, and for most of the twentieth century the company he founded, sign maker Artkraft Strauss, was responsible for lowering the Ball.
The tech behind the New Year’s Eve ball drop (audio 1:22) – a geodesic sphere weighing around 12,000 pounds. And there’s plenty of technology in the thing, including LED light bulbs.
Engineering ideas
- geodesic sphere, crystal,
Learn more…
- Times Square New York City, New York. Includes a count down to the next New Year.
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