1937 Hindenburg Tragedy

The Hindenburg was an amazing zeppelin built by the Germans. Known for its leisure traveling across the Atlantic Ocean and being the symbol of an amazing engineering by the Germans. Sadly, a catastrophic disaster strike the magnificent airship that shock many people who witness the unfortunate, but horrifying dramatic event. Afterwards, resulting many questioning the cause of the terrible disaster. The crash of the Hindenburg that happen in 1937 was a disaster that caused shock and despair around the world.

The Hydrogen Fuel Cell could revolutionize the world. This ingenious technology, which creates electricity from the chemical reactions of hydrogen and oxygen has, in its 150-year history, passed many of the critical tests along the path from invention to innovation. Recent developments in fuel cell technology and concurrent developments within the energy and automotive industries have brought the world to brink of the fuel cell age and the hydrogen economy.

Experiments 2-1 and 2-2 study the production of hydrogen gas by different chemical reactions. By using a hydrogen gas collection apparatus and the principles of chemistry, we were able to evaluate the data and reach our goal. Experiment 2-1 uses zinc, magnesium and aluminum and how much hydrogen gas they produce to predict the volume of hydrogen gas produced for different masses of each metal. In this experiment we see that each metal has an increasing amount of hydrogen gas as mass goes up, however each metal had different amount of hydrogen gas for the same mass. Zinc produced the least amount of hydrogen gas, then increasing with magnesium, and aluminum produced the highest amount. The

There are many hypothesis that try to explain why the Hindenburg exploded in flame. One of the theories argues that the fire was started by an electrical spark which was caused by the buildup of electrical static. Some say that the skin covering the duralumin frame (aka dope) was not designed to evenly distribute its charge throughout the fabric. The skin and the frame were separated by non-conductive cords that were covered in metal to improve conductivity (but not very effectively), allowing a huge difference of electrical potential to build up. When the Hindenburg landed, a mooring line grounded the frame but not the skin creating an electrical spark from the differences in potential. The spark, trying to find the closest way to the ground

However, some pundits are concerned that adopting hydrogen energy as the sole strategy for the issues facing the automobile’s future is problematic because of the lengthy time frame in which they are projected to become ubiquitous. Furthermore, the present infrastructure for the distribution of hydrogen fuel sources or the production of hydrogen fuel cells is not only insufficient, but slow to develop. As such, fossil fuels are presently the main source for hydrogen production, which means that hydrogen vehicles do not successfully decouple the automobile from a fossil fuel economy. This is also widely inefficient because it will generate four times the carbon dioxide emissions generated by gasoline efficient automobiles. Furthermore, compressing hydrogen for the purposes of

The Allied used heavy bombers to attack within Germany, destroying much of its ability to produce fuel and munitions, turning the tide of German war effort. By referring to Source B, production of higher quality aviation gasoline through hydrogenation plants helped improve the military performance of the aircraft used by Germany in World War 2. Furthermore, the aviation fuel potential of hydrogenation won I.G Farben, refer to Source , the support of the Air Force, the Luftwaffe. By 1939, both the American and English Air Forces had begun to use the improved gasoline, and the planes could then be equipped with stronger engines. Germany had also discovered how to manufacture such a high octane gasoline, but the process was much more complex and expensive than the American method, which used different primary materials.

In just 34 seconds, the lives of 36 people were lost on May 6, 1937. The airship had over 97 seven people aboard the when it burst into a ball of flames(The). Many people have theories as to why the airship went down. Some say two of the four engines failed to maintain power. Others argue back that a hydrogen leak was the culprit.(Found)

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (fcvs) have not been around for long, but over the past decade that have developed into a new potential successor of the combustion engine. Fcvs function the same as an electric cars but the difference is the hydrogen fuel cell stack. Hydrogen fuel stacks are just multiple layers of fuel cells stacked up and when hydrogen is pumped in to mix with oxygen a reaction takes place. From this reaction electricity and water vapor is created. The electricity carries on and powers the electric motor(s) in the car. The vapor is released from the exhaust and since only water vapor is released, no harm is done to the environment.

The Hindenburg disaster occurred on May 6, 1937, when a German airship caught fire and was destroyed during a landing attempt in New Jersey. There were 35 deaths (13 passengers and 22 crew members). The German Airship was a blimp, therefore it was filled with gasses in order to float. the Hindenburg disaster was caused by an electrostatic discharge that ignited leaking hydrogen. The difference in electricity likely caused a spark to jump from the fabric which was used to cover the blimp (which had the ability to hold a charge) to the ship’s framework (which was grounded through the landing line). Because one was so negatively charged and the other was so positively charged, it resulted in a giant spark which blew up the

The Hindenburg disaster of 1937 changed the world of air travel in the 30’s. From a world with airships commonly and widely used to them almost non-existent.

Some of the concerns regarding hydrogen that are currently limiting its widespread throughout the world is hydrogen gas is very time consumer which requires a lot of time to free up from its elements even though it is less expensive than regular gas. Hydrogen gas cannot be moved through pipelines like oil due to it is a very light gas. Hydrogen gas require energy such as oil, coal, and natural gas to separate it from oxygen which will not just have logistical issues but also environmental issues.

Currently, hydrogen is generated from fossil fuels by the steam reforming of methane or natural gas. At extremely high temperatures from between 700-1100℃, steam water reacts with methane in an endothermic reaction to yield syngas (synthesis gas), which is a fuel gas mixture consisting primarily of hydrogen and carbon monoxide.

The search for a renewable energy source has been a top priority to us a human race in the past decade. Many ideas have come in the form of wind, solar, and nuclear power, all having their own drawbacks. But, the one that will be focused upon in this analysis is hydrogen as a source of fuel, and the technology leading the way to making it a reality. This technology would affect everyone in one way or another if correctly used. So we must ask if this technology is beneficial to us, how it might hurt us, and whether it is worth pursuing from an ethical stance.

For the past three decades Oil dominates the agenda of political discussion. With scares over price volatility, sizes of reserves, international imports and least of which are the environmental impacts due to carbon dioxide and other emissions. Various speculations and educated guesses place our total depletion of crude oil within the next 50 years and there is a general consensus between environmentalists that we steer toward a hydrogen transportation system given the projected work and nonexistent carbon dioxide emissions (Environmental Technologies class lecture, Santa Clara University). However many barriers stand in the way of attaining such a goal, most of which pertaining

In order to understand the why behind the need to change from fossil fuels to hydrogen power, it is necessary to understand what that power is and how it works. Hydrogen is the most abundant and simplest element on earth. It is most commonly found as part of water. In its pure gaseous form it is extremely light, but when ignited in this state releases a large amount of energy in an explosion. In this violent reaction the hydrogen combines with free oxygen molecules in the atmosphere and creates water vapor. This is similar to the way gasoline is combined with air and ignited in an internal combustion engine in the cars used today and like with gasoline, the combustion of hydrogen has risks. In addition to the risk, some of the energy released in the reaction is lost in the form of sound and heat. As an alternative to burning, these same gases can be combined with the use of catalysts to extract the free electrons produced as liquid water is formed(Popovici and Hoble Dorel). Using cables connected to a fuel cell such as this, those electrons go through a circuit, generating electricity. This is more efficient than combustion because less energy is wasted in the form of sound and heat. Going further, greater efficiency for this reaction can be had the lower the temperature it is allowed to take place at, with 83% power at 25◦C(77◦ F)(Popovici and Hoble Dorel). As fuel cells are created with better heat management and