'Riveting' Science

'Titanic' Accusations
Ok I will stop with the play on words, but I just had to, it got you to read this right? Now, onto the good stuff. On April 14, 1912, 96 years ago yesterday, one of the most fabled ocean liners ever sank after striking an iceberg. The ship sank in less than three hours leaving nearly 1500 people to perish in the icy water. White Star Lines, the ships owner, labeled her unsinkable, and debate has raged since her sinking on why, an 'unsinkable' ship sank so fast. Mystery and intrigue surrounded the the Titanic until 1985 when Robert Ballard and his team discovered the wreck.

Many assumed the the iceberg sliced a huge gash in Titanic's bow section, allowing huge volumes of water to overwhelm Titanic's water containing compartments. In 1996 however, it was found that six small gashes doomed the liner, not one big gash. The gashes appeared to be where bow plates had separated, allowing a deluge of sea water to rush in. Since this discovery, several scientists have contended that low quality iron rivets exacerbated the problem.

New information shows that the builder of the Titanic faced huge shortages of high quality rivets and skilled riveters while building the ship. The shortages of rivets came at the height of the construction of the Titanic, and her two sister ships, the Olympic and the Britannic. Using poor quality rivets, which likely sheared when pressured was applied may have been a fatal flaw in the Titanic's design leading to her demise. Be sure to read the full article, I do not want to give away all of the juicy details. I promise you it will not bore you nearly as much as Leo and Kate's performance did in James Cameron's theatrical version!

*Que Celine Dion..."Near.........FAR.........WHEREVER YOU ARE......MY HEART WILL GO ON...