Science Fun

There are some areas of our country that always end up with forest fires during the summer months. The combination of high heat and lack of rain causes the forest floors to become tinder boxes that fuel the ferocious appetites of a fire gone wild.

It was on this day in history, August 20, 1910, that the “big blow up” for forest fires in Idaho finally came to an end. A record dry August fueled 1,736 fires which burned thee million acres destroying six billion board feet of timber. The fires claimed the lives of 85 individuals, 78 of which were firefighters, and the fire consumed the entire town of Wallace. The smoke spread a third of the way around the world and produced some dark days in the U.S. and Canada. These forest fires prompted the federal fire protection laws. Data from This Day in Weather History.

I took a look at this event and thought that maybe it was with Horse and Buggy since it was in 1907. I guess the automobile did have a few ‘horses’ under the hood to master a race. On this day in 1907, the greatest automobile race took place.

The race stretched 8,000 miles from Beijing, China, to Paris, France. The event last for 62 days and was won by Prince Borghese of Italy. The prince drove like a madman across Asia and Europe and along the way he encountered a brush fire, got stuck in a swamp, and was pulled over by a police man who refused to believe he was in a race and not out speeding.

From the historical archives of the History Channel

Nuclear weapon detonated on this day in history. Hiroshima was devastated by an Atomic Bomb. At 8:15 a.m., the U. S. Army Air Corps Super fortress Enola Gay drops and atomic bomb, code named “Little Boy” on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Seventy thousand people are killed almost instantaneously, and as many more will die from the after affects of the world’s first nuclear bombing.

The atom bomb had been developed by the United States, prompted by fears that Hitler had been working on such a device. Though the dropping of the bomb, and another three days later on Nagasaki, brought about the end of World War II, many historians argue that it also ignited the Cold War. (This historical event from the archives of the History Channel)

Natural disasters abound throughout the world and can strike at any place and at any time. The most common disasters are those associated with hurricanes, tropical storms, tornadoes, and earthquakes. On this day in history, July 28, 1976, a strong earthquake struck in China.

The earthquake measured between 7.8 and 8.2 on the Richter scale, and it flattened Tangshan, a Chinese industrial city with about one million people. An estimated 242,000 were killed, making the earthquake one of the deadliest in recorded history, surpassed only by the 300,000 who died in the 1737 Calcutta earthquake and the 830,000 thought to have perished in the 1556 China’s Shaanxi province quake. We will review what causes earthquakes in a future post. Information for today’s post from the History Channel archives.

On this day in 1954, the world’s first nuclear power generator began production of electricity in the Soviet Union. It was 25 years later that that Soviet Union would experience the first and worst potential hazard of nuclear technology when the Chernobyl plant suffered a meltdown that contaminated thousands of miles surrounding the site on April 26, 1986.

56 individuals died from this disaster and an estimated 600,000 were affected by the nuclear fallout and radiation exposure. The surrounding towns and communities are mostly uninhabited today due to the continued unhealthy levels of radiation. There is a 19 mile perimeter around the plant that is closed off and is a restricted area.

40 years ago today, July 24, 1969, the astronauts of Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin splashed down in the pacific ocean following their historic flight to the moon. The launch of Apollo 11 occurred at 9:32 AM on July 16th. Landing on the moon occurred on July 20th and the moon walk also occurred on that day. Lift off from the moon was on July 21st and they returned home on the 24th. Total mission time was 8 days 3 hours 18 minutes and 35 seconds. The lunar EVA was for 2 hours 36 minutes and 40 seconds and the crew was on the surface of the moon for a total of 21 hours 31 minutes and 20 seconds.

Thousands of individuals from many industries throughout America came together to make the Apollo 11 mission a successful event, from the designers, contractors, men and women working on the assembly and fabrication of pieces and parts, to the many scientists, technicians, and engineers of NASA and leading aerospace industries. On the evening of July 23, 1969, on the last night in space, Michael Collins commented in a televised address “The Saturn V rocket which put us in orbit is an incredibly complicated piece of machinery, every piece of which worked flawlessly … We have always had confidence that this equipment will work properly. All this is possible only through the blood, sweat, and tears of a number of a people …All you see is the three of us, but beneath the surface are thousands and thousands of others, and to all of those, I would like to say, ‘Thank you very much.”

The Apollo 11 mission was a success and it paved the way for the future Apollo missions to continue the voyage and the study of our neighboring celestial body – the Moon. Will we return to the moon? I believe we should return to the moon and travel beyond!