Weak Rivets May Have Sped Sinking of Titanic 296
Pickens writes "Metallurgists studying the hulk of the Titanic argue that the liner went down fast after hitting an iceberg because the ship's builder used substandard rivets that popped their heads and let tons of icy seawater rush in. They say that better rivets would have probably kept the Titanic afloat long enough for rescuers to have arrived, saving hundreds of lives. The team collected clues from 48 Titanic rivets and found many riddled with high concentrations of slag, a glassy residue of smelting that can make iron brittle. To test whether this extra slag weakened the rivets, scientists commissioned a blacksmith to make rivets to the same specifications as those used to join steel plates in the hull of the Titanic. When the plates were bent in the laboratory, the rivet heads popped off at loads of about 4,000 kg. With the right slag content they should have held up to about 9,000 kg. Even a few failures because of flawed metal would have been sufficient to unzip entire seams, because as faulty rivets popped, more stress would have been placed on the good ones, causing them to break in turn. The shipbuilder, which is still in existence, denies it all."
terrorists? (Score:1, Funny)
Titanic (2007) (Score:5, Funny)
If only it had gone down faster.
Wow... (Score:1, Funny)
I saw a special on Discovery about this (Score:5, Funny)
So many years later, I wonder if it is worth it to hold the shipmaker accountable for the tragic loss of life. The stowaways in the galley climbing the railing at the bow shouting their claims to the throne of the earth were all taken under, and though they found love in the last hours of the Titanic, I can't help but wonder what sort of lives such rapscallions would have lived had they landed in New York City. Instead, at the bottom of the sea is the blue gem, shining brightly in the ghostly beams of the research submarines, so far away from the hands which let it fall to the seafloor in remembrance of the short, brilliant, flash of love in those few hours whose imprint upon Rose lasted her whole life.
Re:Titanic (2007) (Score:3, Funny)
It was terrorism (Score:2, Funny)
Madness I say. (Score:3, Funny)
Now...if we can start second-guessing some more disasters, we can really get the lawsuits going.
Re:terrorists? (Score:3, Funny)
As any fule kno, the Catholics are the terrorists in Belfast :P
Re:It was terrorism (Score:3, Funny)
I also saw a special on Discovery about this... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:How is this new information? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:oh come on.... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:It was terrorism (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I also saw a special on Discovery about this... (Score:5, Funny)
Global warming (Score:2, Funny)
Re:It was terrorism (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Titanic (2007) (Score:3, Funny)
Look on the bright side... (Score:4, Funny)
Why is the ship-builder hesitating to claim such progress?
Re:How is this new information? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Titanic (2007) (Score:4, Funny)
'It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic'
What a cast-iron star that man was :)
Re:I also saw a special on Discovery about this... (Score:3, Funny)
Yeah, and I bet the Queen of England was in it too...
Re:It was terrorism (Score:5, Funny)
All the more reason to attack them now, if they get their hands on ice making technology we are sunk! Better use nukes to make sure we melt any secret bergs they have hidden in the desert.
Re:How is this new information? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Who caes about rivets... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:How is this new information? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Titanic (2007) (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I saw a special on Discovery about this (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Maritime riveting (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Titanic (2007) (Score:4, Funny)
Ah, one of the two highlights of the movie.
The other, of course, was Leonardo Di Caprio freezing to death.
Back to the topic at hand, though: I remember a documentary I saw right about the time Titanic came out, which listed faulty screws as a possible cause of the disaster. So what's exactly new here?