How many bagels stacked would it take to reach the top of the Sears Tower?

Answer 1

Assuming you mean stacked flat with the holes up the middle:

Bagels are between 1¼ in and 1½ in in thickness

Depending upon source the Sears Tower is 1451 or 1454 ft tall.

So I'll give you a range of the minimum (based on thickest bagels and shortest measurement) and maximum (based on thinnest bagels and tallest measurement) number of bagels:

1 ft = 12 in

Minimum: 1451 ft ÷ 1½ in = 1451 × 12 ÷ 1½ = 11,608 bagels

Maximum: 1454 ft ÷ 1¼ in = 1451 × 12 ÷ 1¼ = 13,958 bagels

So it will take somewhere between about 11,600 bagels and about 14,000 bagels.

Using the mean average of these leads to about 12,800 bagels being required.

Note that the above assumes that the bagels (especially those at the bottom) are strong enough not to compress under the weight of the bagels above them.

How much does that stack of bagels weigh?

The source used for the bagels above states the 1½ inch thick bagel weighs 4 oz, the 1¼ inch thick bagel weighs 2.7 oz.

Thus the 11,608 bagels 1½ inch thick weigh 46,432 oz = 2902 lb ≈ 1.5 short tons;

and the 13,958 bagels 1¼ inch thick weigh 40965 oz ≈ 2560 lb ≈ 1.3 short tons

Which means the stack of bagels will weigh about 1.4 short tons.

Answer 2

10,000