A Day In The Journey

I stayed up horrifically late the other night because I got completely absorbed in a
PBS documentary about the Hindenburg. Yes, I am an admitted nerd--this is further proof of said fact. At any rate, what do you think of when you think of the Hundenburg? My guess is something about the dangers of hydrogen as a fuel or the tragedy of using a flammable fuel in a passenger derigible. Guess what? You would be completely misguided. The tragedy of the Hindenburg was actually about rocket fuel.

Former NASA scientist, Addison Bain spent over nine years studying the science behind the Hindenburg disaster. Bain's scientific specialty--hydrogen, esp. as related to rocket boosters. After going over the eyewitness reports of the time, Bain realized that the fire being described was not a hydrogen fire. Watching the video, Bain was troubled by the fire's behavior and the extremely rapid consumption of the airship's cover. Neither thing was typical of a hydrogen induced fire. After years of research, Bain came up with the reason for the Hindenburg disaster.

To prevent water damage, hydrogen cell expansion, sun damage, the covers of airships were "doped"--painted with a sealing compound. As Bain researched, he discovered that the Hindenburg had been coated with a "new and improved" formula: powdered aluminum and iron oxide--what we know today as solid rocket fuel.

All aircraft gather static electricity as they fly. Because of this fact, the airships were grounded so that the electricity would flow through the landing lines as soon as they touched the ground. The methods used to ground airships weren't infallable, though, due to the materials that were used, thus several cells in the Hindenburg likely did not expel their static electricity when the landing lines dropped. Instead, a cell near the very back of the H. retained its electricity. Electricity must escape and it takes the easiest way out. The nearest way out was a spark to the girder which caused the cell to heat up. The heat ignited the "dope"--rocket fuel--and ignited the cover. Of course, at this point the hydrogen became fuel for the fire, but the rocket fuel coating is what consumed the ship. It would not have made any difference what gas was used to lift the Hindenburg--it still would have burned the same way.

Ironically, after he had proved his theory, Bain discovered the results of the German study of the disaster in the Hindenburg Library in Germany. The results of their study were the same that Bain had discovered--the iron oxide/powdered aluminum coating had combined with insufficient grounding to ignite the airship. The study had been buried to prevent any trouble to the Nazi government, and shortly after that WWII broke out.

I know, I know, this is all super-nerdy, but it makes me want to go back and re-teach that part of 6th grade history. :) And it certainly opens up interesting doors for the use of hydrogen in the future. So what do you think of hydrogen now?

And relatedly, how do you think this relates to new historical discoveries in general?