What Are The Causes Of The Great Molasses Flood Of 1919

The Molasses Flood of 1919 It was an oddly warm winter day in Boston, Massachusetts when a twenty foot high wave of sticky molasses tore through several structures in Boston’s North End. There are several theories on how the molasses tank ruptured in order to cause the flood, but historians and engineers have narrowed it down to one most probable cause. In the day, molasses was fermented in large amounts to make alcohols used in the booming ammunition manufacturing industry. Arguably one of the stranger stories in history, the Great Molasses Flood of 1919 claimed the lives of several people and caused a large amount of property damage. On January 15, 1919 the Purity Distilling Company molasses tank was exceptionally full due to a recent
When the tank initially ruptured, the US Industrial Alcohol Company made the claim that anarchists sabotaged the tank with explosives. They backed up this claim by saying that they received a phone threat a year ago and that leaflets threatening violence were posted in the neighborhood a few days before. (Lyons) The second cause that was more widely supported, was that the unusual heat levels caused the molasses to ferment in the tank causing a buildup of carbon dioxide gas which in turn caused the tank to rupture.(Schworm) After studies were done nearly a century later, the most definitive cause of the rupture was simply an incredible lack of structural integrity in the construction. The steel used to construct the tank was found to be too brittle,though this was unbeknownst to the builders at the time, and the person who oversaw the construction of the tank was incapable of even reading a blueprint. (Trex) In the modern study by Ronald Mayville, he found that the fracture most likely started at the manhole cover on the tank because it was never reinforced to relieve the stress. He also found that the steel used on all of the tank was at least fifty percent too thin to contain the amount of molasses the tank was built for.
After the tank was built in such a rush, no one ever thought to reinforce the tank after it was put into service. The USIAC also seemed to be disinterested with repairing the tank by the fact that when it began leaking they painted the tank brown in an attempt to conceal the leaks. (Schworm) The damages caused by the flood totaled to somewhere around 100 million dollars in today’s dollars. (Lyons) The disaster also claimed the lives of twenty one people and injured at least another 150 people. (Jabr) The Scientific American offers insight into the science of why the molasses flood posed a uniquely difficult situation for rescuers and the stranded at the time. A major factor in the particular devastation and lethality of a wave of molasses is the fact that molasses is a non-newtonian fluid. When something behaves as a non-newtonian fluid, it flows as a liquid when low shear force is applied but becomes similar to a solid when high shear force is applied such as when impacting another object. (Jabr) This means that when the wave of molasses hit an object, it was able to transfer a larger amount of its kinetic energy into that object. When the molasses slowed down though, it behaved as a liquid. Molasses acting as a liquid is extremely viscous and sticky, which means that those attempting to swim through it would have extreme difficulty. The major problem