Boston Molasses Disaster: Eyewitness Accounts & Impact

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Eyewitness accounts from the Boston Molasses Disaster describe a rush of wind that preceded the flood, with reports of people and debris being hurled by this force. The discussion raises questions about whether flowing molasses could generate such air movement or if it was caused by an explosion from the ruptured tank. Some suggest that gases from fermentation might have created strong winds, while others compare it to the behavior of water in tsunamis, which do not produce similar air currents. The sheer volume of molasses released during the disaster was devastating, resulting in significant casualties. The conversation highlights the complexities of understanding the physics behind such rare events.
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Hello,
I have a question about the Boston Molasses disaster.

Eyewitnesses of this molasses flood speak of a preceding rush of wind that picked everything and everyone up (before engulfing them in molasses).

Wikipedia:

The Boston Globe reported that people "were picked up by a rush of air and hurled many feet." Others had debris hurled at them from the rush of sweet-smelling air. A truck was picked up and hurled into Boston Harbor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Molasses_Disaster

Yet, when I look at the horrible footage from the 2004 tsunami, a person in swimming trunks is just stoically awaiting the wave, standing straight before it hits him.My questions being:

- Would flowing molasses actually produce a powerful rush of air at 50km/h?

- If so, why doesn’t water do this?Or was this rush of air probably caused by the ‘explosion’ of the ruptured tank? (Apparently, the rivets shot out, sounding like machine-gun fire.)Greetings and thanks

PS:
other sources
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/molasses-flood-physics-science/?page=2
http://edp.org/molyank.htm (by John Mason Reprinted from Yankee Magazine (Dublin, New Hampshire: January 1965), pages 52-53 and 109-111.)

The disaster took place in 1919 and molasses disasters are fairly scarce, so I guess there's not much scientific evidence to go on.

(Edited on request.)
 
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jan k said:
Hello,
I have a question about the Boston Molasses disaster.

Eyewitnesses of this molasses flood speak of a preceding rush of wind that picked everything and everyone up (before engulfing them in molasses).

Wikipedia:

The Boston Globe reported that people "were picked up by a rush of air and hurled many feet." Others had debris hurled at them from the rush of sweet-smelling air. A truck was picked up and hurled into Boston Harbor.
Yet, when I look at the horrible footage from the 2004 tsunami, a person in swimming trunks is just stoically awaiting the wave, standing straight before it hits him.My questions being:

- Would flowing molasses make actually produce a powerful rush of air at 50km/h?

- If so, why doesn’t water do this?Or was this rush of air probably caused by the ‘explosion’ of the ruptured tank? (Apparently, the rivets shot out, sounding like machine-gun fire.)Greetings and thanks

Welcome to the PF.

Can you provide a link to the wikipedia article, and hopefully to some more mainstream scientific sources? Thanks.
 
Sounds a bit dubious, but the rush of air was probably not due to the motion of the molasses, but due to gases which had built up during the fermentation processes. This could conceivable produce very strong "winds", aka a small explosion.
 
The molasses tank in the Boston disaster was approximately 50 feet tall and 90 feet in diameter. That's a tank which is approximately as tall as a 5-story building, collapsing all at once and releasing its contents.

A tsunami, before it reaches shore, travels thru deep water almost imperceptibly. It's only when the disturbance reaches shallow water that large waves can develop. The 2004 tsunami, in some places, produced more of a surge of water which was a few feet deep on shore, rather than a large wave. Nevertheless, this surge of water was enough to collect debris after it came ashore and propel this debris ahead of it, causing damage to structures and injuring people caught in its path. The gentleman in your video was lucky; there were thousands who were not so fortunate.
 
Thank you.

Off course:
SteamKing said:
The gentleman in your video was lucky; there were thousands who were not so fortunate.

No, he died. But he lived on his feet until the wave took him.

So...I guess, in the case of an 'explosion', the rush of sweet air wouldn't have rounded the corner along with the flowing molasses.
 
jan k said:
Thank you.

Off course:No, he died. But he lived on his feet until the wave took him.

So...I guess, in the case of an 'explosion', the rush of sweet air wouldn't have rounded the corner along with the flowing molasses.

Whether there was a rush of air at Boston in 1919 is pretty much irrelevant to that disaster. There was still reportedly millions of gallons of molasses discharged in a short amount of time which killed or maimed its victims. Being choked on molasses is not a pretty end for anyone.
 
It's relevant to me.
Thanks for the info.
 

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