Article: <5fpdv1$k2f@dfw-ixnews5.ix.netcom.com>
From: saquo@ix.netcom.com(Nancy )
Subject: Re: TUNGUSKA
Date: 7 Mar 1997 15:58:25 GMT
In article <5fn6ei$11b6@news.ccit.arizona.edu> Jim
Scotti writes:
>>> So, what set off the methane gas explosion?
According to
>>> eyewitnesses of the explosion, it occurred in clear
skies at
>>> about 7:17 AM on the morning of June 30, 1908. And
what
>>> about the fireball that was seen by many witnesses
crossing
>>> from southeast to northwest just before the
explosion?
>>> jscotti@LPL.Arizona.EDU (Jim Scotti)
>
>> The air is still, but as always there are prevailing
westerlies,
>> which blow the methane a bit to the east. ... The spark
>> ignites the methane that drifted east, and as would be
expected
>> the path of the rapidly burning methane would travel
BACK
>> along the slowly drifting cloud, back to the source.
>> (End ZetaTalk[TM])
>
> This does not jive with the eyewitness accounts. The
fireball
> was a bright bolide - a meteor - which streaked in from
hundreds
> of kilometers to the SE of the blast site. The explosion
happened
> at an altitude of 8-10 kilometers and there is no crater at
the
> explosion site.
> jscotti@LPL.Arizona.EDU (Jim Scotti)
Why do our clouds have the appearance of wisps? A large methane leak, even in still air, would be wafted by the prevailing westerlies and as methane is lighter than air would rise up, creating what amounts to a WICK in the atmosphere! People can create an explosion by dribbling gasoline along in a line and lighting the end, so the slopped gas acts as a wick. If there's a natural gas leak in a house, someone standing outside lighting a cigarette can light the gas inside the house via this wick method.
Besides, methane burns blue, and THIS also fits the descriptions given by eye witnesses. Remember those movies where punks are amusing themselves by lighting their farts? Cigarette lighter to their rear at the right moment, and a blue flame appears.
In article: <857639663snz@nezumi.demon.co.uk> Martin Tom
Brown writes:
>> Caravans winding their way way across the Gobi Desert
>> were the first to see a fireball cross the skies glowing
bluish
>> white leaving a multicoloured vapour trail. It also
stated that
>> the fireball was seen in southern Russia at shortly
before
>> 7.17am when the explosion was reported. Maybe someone
>> can corroborate this story
>> harvey@brassmonkey.demon.co.uk "Harvey
Manning"
>
> I thought the first published observation of it was a letter
to
> the Times by a woman who thought she had seen an unusual
> Aurora Borealis.
> Martin@nezumi.demon.co.uk (Martin Tom Brown)