Great Molasses Flood of 1919: Why This Deluge of Goo Was So Deadly

[rangerrebew]

Great Molasses Flood of 1919: Why This Deluge of Goo Was So Deadly
By Charles Q. Choi, Live Science Contributor | November 21, 2016 11:27am ET

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Great Molasses Flood of 1919: Why This Deluge of Goo Was So Deadly
In 1919, a collapsed molasses tank sent a towering wave of the sticky mess through the streets, ensnaring everything from humans to horses to homes. The wreckage of the tank can be seen in the upper-right of the image.
Credit: Boston Public Library

A bubbling flood of molasses that sent a towering wave of goo down the streets of Boston in 1919, catching everything from horses to humans in its sticky grasp, killing 21 people, injuring 150 more and flattening buildings in its wake. Now, scientists have figured out why the deluge of viscous sweetener was so deadly.

Cool temperatures may have caused the spilled molasses to flow more slowly, complicating attempts to rescue victims and to begin recovery and cleanup, researchers report in a new study.

http://www.livescience.com/56947-why-molasses-flood-1919-was-deadly.html

[Suppressed]

Cool temperatures may have caused the spilled molasses to flow more slowly ...

A similar effect is seen with ice caps... warmer ice spreads out faster, often causing greater ice cap coverage as an indication of warming.  That's why ice volume, not area, is important.  (Many skeptic sites post ice area data, not volume.)

This is in addition to bed-friction changes, etc., from temperature changes.  I wonder whether there's a frictional change in molasses!

[Oceander]

Talk about sticky situations.

[thackney]

"As an engineer, one of the things that struck me about the whole affair was the lack of professional ethics involved," Sharp said. "We engineers have a professional and a moral obligation to ensure that what we design and build is safe. People's lives and livelihoods are at risk if we fail. The Boston Molasses Flood is a reminder of what can happen when corners are cut and when warnings about a structure's failing integrity are ignored."

Sharp hopes to figure out what was going on in the tank prior to its collapse. "Two days before the rupture, warm molasses was pumped into the bottom of a tank of cold molasses," she said. "Historical accounts say that the tank walls 'groaned' after such deliveries, presumably due to the mixing between the warm and cold molasses....

[andy58-in-nh]

I remember walking on the north side of Commercial Street on a damp fall day about 20 years ago, and damned if you couldn't still catch a few distinct whiffs of sweetness on the wind.