The base of this pole was burned off, but thanks to the wires, remains standing

The base of this pole was burned off, but thanks to the wires, remains standing

The base of this pole was burned off completely, but it's still up thanks to some support from the wires. It's been carrying those wires for all these years; it's about time they supported it for a while

This electric pole broke in a storm. It was originally 81 8181 feet tall. 28 2828 feet are still sticking straight out of the ground, where it snapped, but the remaining piece has hinged over and touches the ground some distance away. 

They are required to be under quite some tension so that they don't hang too low. You could calculate how much tension exactly from the weight of the rope, the distance from one pole to the next, and how much they are allowed to hang below the height of the top of the poles.

When a force is exerted on the pole, its bottom end will push against the ground it's stuck in; the ground then exerts a resistance force. Intuitively, if the pole's upper end will move  direction and if is very weak, the ground resistance keeps the pole in place.

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