Sci Tech
Hindenburg Mystery Solved: Electricity Was The Problem Say Experts
1937 file photo taken at almost the split second that the Hindenburg exploded, shows the 804-foot German zeppelin just before the second and third explosions send the ship crashing to the earth over the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Lakehurst.
Some 76 years after the airship Hindenberg dramatically caught fire and crashed while trying to land in Lakehurst, New Jersey, May 6, 1937, several experts have revealed that they have uncovered the exact cause of the disaster.
Of the 97 people on board, 61 of which were crew members, 35 people tragically lost their lives. By using scale models to recreate what happened to the Hindenberg on that fateful spring day, engineering experts have discovered that static electricity was the reason the airship burst into flames before it could safely land on the field below.
“I think the most likely mechanism for providing the spark is electrostatic,” aeronautical engineer Jem Stansfield told The Independent. “That starts at the top, then the flames from our experiments would’ve probably tracked down to the center. With an explosive mixture of gas, that gave the whoomph when it got to the bottom.”
Their tests revealed that a minute amount of hydrogen gas which was leaking from the airship came into contact with some static electricity caused by a recent electrical storm, creating a fire that first appeared at the tail of the ship but then quickly consumed the entire craft as it crashed to the ground.
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On The Web:
Hindenburg mystery solved after 76 years
http://www.iol.co.za/scitech/science/discovery/hindenburg-mystery-solved-after-76-years-1.1480730
