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October 31, 2008

Strange But True!

Q. The lighter-than-air hydrogen gas that filled the airship “The Hindenberg” on that fateful day in May 1937 in Lakehurst, N.J., was a double-edged sword. How so?

A. The hydrogen rendered the airship light enough to be buoyed by the air but the gas was highly flammable — the sword's tragic edge — and the Hindenberg burst into flames, says Louis Bloomfield in “How Things Work: The Physics of Everyday Life.” Yet because of its extreme lightness and buoyancy in air, the gas rapidly rose through the tear in the damaged ship, so that — fortunately — most of the combustion occurred above the airship and many passengers survived. Though the lifting capacity of a hydrogen balloon is only slightly greater than that of a helium balloon, hydrogen is cheap and plentiful while helium is scarce. Still, today hydrogen gas is avoided in situations where safety is important.


 
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