Category Archives: Safety

Slower than Molasses in January: The Great Molasses Flood of 1919

Many of us remember being told we were slower than molasses in January when we were dragging our feet and our parents wanted to go somewhere. It was up there to poetically describe terribly slow things like watched pots and paint drying and grass growing.

 

So it may come as a surprise that molasses in January actually travels at about 35 miles per hour and with enough force to knock houses off their foundations and trains off their tracks.

At least, one instance of molasses in January in Boston did.

One hundred years ago, around lunchtime on January 15th, 1919, a 50-foot-high steel tank  ruptured in Boston’s North End, spilling 2.3 million gallons of molasses. Now, while visions of tanks spilling sweet goodness all over may be the stuff of dreams, the reality is the stuff of nightmares. Twenty one people were killed and 150 people were injured. Litigation would last for years.

 

It had been an abnormally warm winter day. The molasses in the tank had probably been fermenting for months, as people had reported seeing leaks. The tank was painted brown to hide the leaks, but children of the heavily populated area would go to the tank with pails to collect the molasses. The tank had also just been topped off a few days before with warm molasses that had traveled from the Gulf Coast, and the warm day contributed to the fermentation. The rivets began to shoot out of the tank, making people report hearing machine gun fire, and the molasses began to twist and break off the steel plates as it escaped.

Patrolman Frank McManus used a call box to report a wave of molasses down Commercial Street.  He asked for all available rescue vehicles and personnel to be sent. The molasses formed a 40 foot wave with its 14,000 tons. For nearly 100 yards around the tank, the spill was chest deep. It knocked the firehouse off its foundation and shook the elevated train nearly off its tracks.

Within seconds, people within two city blocks of the tank had been drowned. Many survivors had broken backs and skulls from the force. Giuseppe Iantosca was keeping an eye on his ten year old son through his second story window when the molasses hit. He watched his son’s red sweater vanish into the molasses. It would be hours before the boy’s broken body would be recovered. Eighteen of the 21 victims were Italian or Irish immigrants.

Molasses, as you may guess, doesn’t act like water. It’s a non-Newtonian fluid, which means it wants to remain stable and static until a force is applied. Then it can react pretty violently. Think toothpaste in a tube or ketchup in a squeeze bottle. Prior to being squeezed, they are pretty stable. The force of gravity and the heat made the molasses very unstable. After it stopped being affected by the force, the molasses simply went back to being stable, trapping people and animals in its sticky grip. And unlike water, regular motions won’t work. Every time you move in a non-Newtonian fluid, it moves with you, making sure you make no progress. It’s why we see insects trapped in amber, or prehistoric animals in tar pits. Only this was molasses just a century ago in one of the United States’ largest cities trapping people and dogs and horses.

People stuck in deep molasses would describe how difficult it was to breathe, how the pressure of the molasses on their chests forced them to gasp for their lives. Doctors and nurses would later document how hard it was to clean molasses out of the tracheas of survivors. And then the temperature began to drop, causing the molasses to become stable again, trapping people and animals and buildings. Twenty five horses ended up dying.

Sailors on leave rushed to the scene to help. Harry Howe, interviewed in 1981, recalled, “We saw this big cloud of brown dust and dirt and a slight noise. And there was an arm sticking out from underneath the wheel of a truck. So two of us got a hold of his arm and pulled and unfortunately, we pulled his arm off.”

 

Rescue efforts would continue for days. It would take weeks to clear the streets, and months for it to wash out of the harbor.

It was later concluded that the steel plates comprising the molasses tank were thinner than the original plans had called for. There were too few rivets to keep the weaker plates in place. It was calculated that that at the time of the explosion, the overfilled tank exerted a pressure of 31,000 pounds per square inch on the tank walls. The under built tank had no chance. A court would decide that the company that owned the tank was responsible for the damage and deaths, although they would maintain for years they were victims of an anarchist’s bomb.

 

All that remains to remind people of this tragedy is a small green plaque in Langone Park, which covers much of the area that had been flooded 100 years ago. People say you can still smell the molasses on hot days.

References:

This is an affiliate link: [amazon_textlink asin=’B004477UGC’ text=’Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 by Stephen Puleo ‘ template=’ProductLink’ store=’002′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’d0664dde-54f7-42fb-87c2-60eceec1d393′]

https://alum.mit.edu/slice/solving-great-molasses-flood-mystery

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/molasses-flood-physics-science/

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/great-boston-molasses-flood-1919-killed-21-after-2-million-n958326

https://www.wbur.org/news/2019/01/15/boston-molasses-flood-100-years-later

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/boston-molasses-flood-100-year-anniversary

Quick checkup for your car’s health

Regular maintenance to keep something running smoothly often slips our minds, whether it is for us or for our things. But sometimes just checking things out to make sure they are ok can save you money and keep you safe. Especially when you are checking your vehicle.

 

This is a quick checklist that if preformed often will let you know if there is a problem and stop them from showing up, keep you safer, keep your fuel consumption lower, and keep your car on the road longer. And it’s easy enough to teach your teenager to do.

 

Windshield Washer Fluid

Check: monthly or if you use it a lot.

How: Check the reservoir located in your engine and marked with the universal wiper fluid icon. Keep some in your trunk or (if there is room) hooked in your engine compartment.

Why: grime, insects and rain can impede your vision and add glare at night. Your wipers can’t do all the work themselves, but like a dishrag with no soap won’t really clean your dishes.

wiper-fluid

 

Windshield Wiper Blades

Check: with each oil change and if you notice them not clearing rain in a single swipe, or leaving streaks or vibrating against the window.

How: Look for worn cracked or stiff areas. They ought to be smooth and flexible. Remember, they only last 6-12 months, depending on use and conditions, so purchasing a pair to keep in the garage or in the trunk is not a bad investment.

Why: Just like with fluid, if you can’t see, you can easily be extremely unsafe while driving.

 

Tire Pressure

Check: Once a month before driving.

How: Use a simple mechanical gauge to compare the pressure with what your car (not the tire) recommnds (this is located normally on a sticker in the glove box, door jam, or trunk.

Why: Over inflated tires wear the center of the tires faster and will give you a less than smooth ride. Under inflated tires wear the edges of the tires faster and give you less control of the car and worse fuel mileage.

 

Brake Fluid

Check: Every 3-6 months, or if your brakes feel odd. Replace completely once every two years.

How: Check the reservoir located in your engine and marked with the universal brake fluid icon. Keep some in your trunk or garage to top it off.

Why: Brake fluid allows your foot to communicate with your brakes to come to a smooth stop when you need to. If your fluid is low, or old, it can allow air bubbles to enter the fluid, causing you to brake unevenly or lose your ability to brake completely.

brake-fluid

Power Steering Fluid

Check: Every month, or if your steering feels stiff. Unlike brake fluid, you probably will never have to replace it, only add to it. Check your car’s manual for this.

How: Check the reservoir located in your engine and marked with the universal steering fluid icon. Keep some in your trunk or garage to top it off.

Why: Checking if your fluid is low will alert you to a leak that could potentially cause serious steering issues when you don’t expect them. Just like brake fluid, steering fluid helps you communicate with your car. If your fluid is low, you can suddenly lose your ability to steer.

power-steering

 

Belts

Check: Every 4-6 months.

How: Look for worn or cracked edges. These need to be replaced every 3-4 years. Look for specifics in your car’s manual.

Why: Belts help your engine control your car’s varies parts. If the belts are too lose, they will slip and waste efficiency. If they are too tight, they can cause permanent damage. If they are too old, they can snap and leave you stranded.

 

Battery

Check: every 4-6 months

How: The battery’s cables, clamps and connections ought to be checked for corrosion at least twice a year.  If the battery is showing other signs of weakness or age, like dim lights or slow engine cranking, you can have your battery checked. That’s actually a service AAA will provide for free.

Why: No one wants to be stuck with a dead battery.

 

Lights

Check: every 4-6 months

How: Simple enough if you have a partner to walk around the vehicle and check if lights are out. If you don’t, check while stopped in front of a glass window and you can see your own reflection.

Why: It’s way safer to have working lights, and you can avoid a ticket.

Phishing Scams- will you fall for one?

It’s easy to think that only newbies and innocents will fall prey to a phishing scam, and that you are safe. After all, you know better than to believe there really is a Nigerian Prince who wants to give you free money.

But it’s not just the ‘send me your bank account information’ that can cause issues. Phishing scams can include password captures and sabotaging systems, among other malware. It’s estimated it costs one trillion dollars worldwide.

Part of the problem is that there really is little proof that training and explaining what the threats look like actually helps prevent the crimes. There is a chance, actually, that by ‘knowing what to look for’ and feeling confident you won’t get scammed, you are actually more likely to be a victim. (This has actually been common for centuries, and played on by confidence artists and magicians both.)

So, while I do not want to contribute to this ‘I know more therefore I am immune’ idea, here are some things modern research are showing that allow otherwise smart people to get scammed.

The belief that email is pretty much safe. It leads people to think that that their email is perfectly safe and to ignore red flags within messages. I’m writing this partially because I got an email from someone I knew asking me to open an attachment because it was what I had requested. I had recently asked for a file to be sent to me, and I gleefully went to open it, before I noticed the spelling was atrocious. Two days later came the message ‘don’t open any attachments from me!’

Being on autopilot. You know, you aren’t really paying attention because you are checking email while doing something else and you are clicking on things before you even realize what it is you just clicked on. I know I have done that, and close out of it very quickly, hoping no damage done.

And checking your email constantly actually contributes to this. If you do it all the time, like a habit, you can easily simply ignore red flags and click where you shouldn’t.

So your best bet is to remember all the signs you already know and all the ways to verify that an email is from who it says it is, that links go where they say they will, and that it hasn’t been hacked. And to be aware— it’s still a dangerous thing. If you are just cleaning up email in between other jobs and not paying real attention, you can get burned. No matter how smart you are. Because, in the long run, we users are the weakest link in security.