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Emily

Alyssa

Gabriella

Angela

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Kayla

Brian

Keating

Reza

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Payton

CC

Natalie

Stella

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Murli

Hugo

Avi

Ayush

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Claim: The Hindenburg Disaster was caused by a build-up of electricity and an arc.

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We chose this source because it is from a reputable source, Caltech (California University of Technology) and it is from a professor with a PhD.

We also chose it because the article is about an experiment that the professor ran that replicated the conditions and spark aboard the Hindenburg successfully, so we think that it is a good source.

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History’s Mysteries: Caltech Professor Helps Solve Hindenburg Disaster

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Konstantinos Giapis delves into the science of the iconic accident for a PBS special.

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Claim: An electric spark from the charged atmosphere caused the Hindenburg’s flammable outer layer to burst into flames.

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History’s Mysteries: Caltech Professor Helps Solve Hindenburg Disaster

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Konstantinos Giapis delves into the science of the iconic accident for a PBS special.

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The Hindenberg blew up because of the inability to correctly and evenly conduct static electricity throughout the Hindenburg ship.

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We chose this source because it gives background information on the materials used to construct the Hindenburg aircraft, as well as some of the properties of the materials.

We new that this was a reliable source, since first of all, it was published very recently, in 2017. And second, the author Dan Grossman, is a famous researcher in the computer science field, he focuses on the construction of the computers in aircraft.

We learned from this article that "Cotton is an insulator, made to control electricity, and if there were any gaps in the cotton, the static electricity would have been concentrated, more likely to start a spark." which is very important to know, based on the fact that there was a high concentration of static electricity in the area that they were flying. We also learned that the material covering the ship is highly flammable, which was a cotton skin covering the powdered aluminum and iron- oxide. 'Tests showed that the fabric was as inflammable (meaning the ability to combust) as rocket fuel, and its reaction with iron oxide could have contributed to and increased the fire.'"

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Hindenburg Design and Technology | Airships.net

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Hindenburg’s Basic Design The basic design of LZ-129 Hindenburg was conventional, and based on time-tested technology used by chief designer Ludwig Dürr and the Zeppelin…

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We chose this source because it gave use some background information on static electricity, which we believe is the main cause of the Hindenburg disaster.

We knew that this source was a reliable source since first of all, this is Britannica, which is famed and known for being reliable. And second, this article was written by Ken Thompson, who is a respected computer science, specialized in the computers of planes. He was also elected to the U.S national academy of Sciences.

We learned from this article that Static electricity has been shown to ignite sparks. “When conditions allow the built-up charge to flow, the surplus of static electricity is discharged, and it becomes current electricity, which can spark fires.” And within the region the Hindenburg went down, was at that time experiencing a surplus of static electricity, during a thunderstorm. So it would make since for there to be a surplus, so much so that a spark fired, caught the outer cotton or the inner regions of the ship causing the ship to explode or burn down. There. could have also been a surplus if there was any holes or weaknesses in the cotton, where it would be easier for static electricity to move up.

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Table of Contents

static electricity, form of electricity resulting from the imbalance between positive and negative charges within a material that occurs when electrons (the negatively charged particles in an atom) move from one material to another. If the electron-receiving material is either isolated or not an electrical conductor, it tends to hold on to the electrons, resulting in a buildup of electric charge. Since this charge is not moving, it is referred to as static electricity. When conditions allow the built-up charge to flow, the surplus of static electricity is discharged, and it becomes current electricity.

How static electricity forms

When different atoms make contact with one another, electrons can transfer between them. The material shedding electrons also loses negative charge, and it becomes positively charged when there are more protons (positively charged particles) than electrons. Conversely, a material that gains electrons becomes negatively charged. As more electrons move from one material to the other-due to repeated contact between them-additional negative charge will build up in a process that is referred to as the triboelectric effect.

Examples of static electricity

If two objects are rubbed together-especially if the objects are insulators and the surrounding air is dry, such as when a person's feet move across a carpet-they acquire equal and opposite charges, and an attractive force develops between them. In this example, the atoms in the person's body strip away electrons from the carpet and leave behind a positive charge on the carpet's fibres. The electrons become isolated in the atoms of the person's body. However, when the person gets close to a conducting material, such as when reaching out a hand to touch a doorknob, a path to ground the built-up charge emerges, and electrons jump suddenly to the conducting material. In addition, as the person reaches for the doorknob, some strands of hair may stand on end. Because like charges repel each other, the transferred electrons that build up in the body travel to the extremities-such as individual strands of hair. (This phenomenon can be demonstrated by using a Van de Graaff generator, which uses a moving belt to gather electric charge on a metallic sphere.)

Another example of the effects of static electricity can be observed in a lightning strike, which occurs when a region of a cloud accumulates a surplus of electrical charge. Small hail particles form in a cloud when moisture in the air freezes, and these particles transfer charge as they grow, move within the cloud, and collide with one another. As additional charged hail particles form, a charge separation occurs, with air acting as an insulator between the charged particles in the cloud as well as between the cloud and the ground. When the surplus of charge is great enough, it overcomes the insulating ability of the air, and electricity is discharged between clouds or between the ground and the cloud itself.

Uses of static electricity

Some of the best-known uses of static electricity occur in air filters and dust-removal devices, which take advantage of the charge differences between materials to remove airborne particles. As electrostatically charged air particles pass through the filter system, the layers of the filter, which have an opposite charge, pick them up and trap them. The buildup of static charge is not always beneficial, however. It can cause damage to important electrical components in computer chips and other components in circuits. Additionally, the friction that occurs while pumping liquids through hoses or pipelines can cause a static charge to accumulate, which can be hazardous if these liquids or the gases they produce are flammable. When this static charge comes into contact with a grounded object, it can create a spark that could ignite these materials.

Ken Stewart

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Static electricity | Causes, Examples, Facts, & Description

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static electricity, form of electricity resulting from the imbalance between positive and negative charges within a material that occurs when electrons (the negatively charged particles in an atom) move from one material to another. If the electron-receiving material is either isolated or not an electrical conductor, it tends to hold on to the electrons, resulting in a buildup of electric charge.

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Dr. Giapsis demonstrated that electric discharge caused the Hindenburg disaster. Stormy conditions caused the skin of the ship to build electric charge. As the ship was landing, hydrogen gas began leaking from the airship. The electric charge could have created a spark, which ignited the leaking and flammable hydrogen. Witnesses at the scene reported seeing a glowing aura on the ship. This shows that there was a high electric voltage on the day of the disaster. When the Hindenburg was grounded, it accumulated more electric charge. Releasing the landing ropes caused an electric difference between the frame and skin of the ship. The skin of the ship became more positively charged while the frame of the ship became negatively charged. This created a situation of a capacitor because the skin and frame had opposite charges. As the ship moved, it continued to accumulate more charge from the atmosphere. Dr. Giapsis concluded that it would take 4 minutes for a capacitor the size of the Hindenburg to be fully charged. The Germans concluded that it took 4 minutes after the ropes were released for the Hindenburg to be moored down. Once the ship was fully charged, the electric charge could have been enough to produce sparks capable of igniting the flammable hydrogen. The ships design, with many areas where the frame was close to the skin, created multiple small capacitors that made it possible to ignite with a hydrogen leak from anywhere on the ship.

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Evidence 1: On the day of the explosion, the electrical storms caused the atmosphere to be more than usually charged and the Hindenburg’s flight was delayed because of the weather. The Hindenburg also had many gaps in between its outer cover and frame. As the ship flew through the atmosphere, it gathered a positive charge. When the ship dropped its mooring ropes to land, the ropes conducted a negative charge from the earth’s surface onto the frame. The frame’s negative charge pulled even more positive charge onto the ship. By grounding the frame, the ship turned into a giant capacitor (a device that stores electrical energy), allowing it to store enough electrical energy to produce the powerful sparks required to ignite the Hindenburg.

Evidence 2: It is also a good possibility that the canvas also had to do with the ignition of the huge flames. It was rendered by a paint containing iron oxide and other flammable chemicals. These chemicals and the static electricity that built up as the ship flew added on to the hydrogen and oxygen reaction. These sparks led to flames and eventually led to the whole outer cover of the ship burning off, along with the body of the ship and more than thirty deaths. Passengers, crew, and spectators died because they were engulfed in the flames that rapidly spread from the ship. It was later discovered that the cover of the ship was painted in rocket fuel, which was quite flammable and gave the sparks along the ship fuel to ignite and become full on flames that overtook the ship.

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We agree that a spark of static electricity was the cause of the fire, but we do not agree that it was the mix of hydrogen and oxygen that initiated it. We believe that the canvas and the framework caught on fire first, making the whole ship go up in flames; not the hydrogen and oxygen. Our evidence from the Smithsonian Magazine suggests that the canvas was painted with flammable chemicals that reacted with the static electricity that built up. The spark set the flammable chemicals on the canvas on fire, not the hydrogen and oxygen mix.

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The Hindenburg disaster was caused by a build-up of electricity that ignited leaking hydrogen.