I'm sure you all know of the historical disaster call the Hindenburg. Where US embargo's in regards to Helium caused the Germans of that period to fill their airships with Hydrogen and the consequences were proven dire. Well in another thread I'd looked at how someone was claiming to make energy out of salt water and everybody wanted to know how it was done. I managed to conclude that bombardment of Free Ion's was causing the breakdown of H[sub]2[/sub]O (and the salt) and subsequently was igniting the Hydrogen. For some reason one thing led to another and I came up with an alternate theory to what catalysed the disaster. I realised the potential for how such an airship as the Hindenburg could of potentially been detonated by accident.... A form of RADAR. Now considering that in 1937, it was prior to WWII and RADAR hadn't been fully developed it made be do a little search and I found that in May 1937 there was a demonstration of RADAR capabilities less than 30 miles away from the Hindenburg crash site. Facts: Hindenburg Blew up on May 6th 1937 at Lakehurst, NJ [[sup]1[/sup]] The 1st Lt., Signal Corps did a RADAR demonstration 18th/19th May 1937 at Fort Monmouth [[sup]2[/sup]] The distance by 'road' on Google maps approximates at 29.4 miles. (51,744 yards) The distance 'As the crow flies' is Approximately 20 Miles. (35,200 yards) [[sup]3[/sup]] The Demonstration RADAR (Not just one particular test but a number of tests involving different RADAR capabilities) had a Doppler range of 20,500 yards (Meaning this was the furthest distance they could get a return signal from) [[sup]2[/sup]] Hypothesis: Could during the run up to the RADAR test, The RADAR have been on the 6th of May? Would the frequencies used or the tests done have potentially jeopardised the integrity of the vessel? A Doppler pulse could theoretically cause a sudden heat increase and the wavelength would potentially be outside of the spectrum being reflected or shielded from. I have to admit I'm am sketchy as to what is possible, however if anyone with a knowledge of RADAR could check out the specifications for the 1st Lt., Signal Corps tests, I'd be happy to hear their input. [[sup]1[/sup]] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZ_129_Hindenburg [[sup]2[/sup]] http://www.infoage.org/Dav-1-cover.html [[sup]3[/sup]] http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en... Lakehurst&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wl Not used but is apart of the investigation] http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/hindburg.htm
You know, the skin of the Hindenburg was covered with thermite (aluminium-based paint and rusty screws everywhere), so that could have been part of the problem as well. Possibly the main cause (and not the hydrogen).
