1/27/03 11:29 PM Rick Banuelos ever-so-carefully typed: >On Friday, January 24, 2003, at 10:44 AM, Mike Amato wrote: > >> They were the cause of the crash of the space flight which had the >> teacher >> aboard. They became brittle in the extreme cold and cracked letting >> fuel out >> which then exploded killing the entire crew. > >Thanks. I remember now. That's one of my earliest memories of any >tragedy. *sigh* >Rick Banuelos
Actually, the o-rings *shrank* in the cold. There was a famous scene that took place during the Congressional Investigation... They had been talking for hours about how they'd figure out whether the o-rings would really shrink when cold. Tired of the charade, Richard Feinman -- a Nobel-winning physicist -- asked for a sample of the o-ring material. He produced a caliper from his pocket. He measured the o-ring material. He then dunked it in the glass of ice water in front of him. after a minute, he measured it again. Behold! The material shrinks when cold! The cold wasn't extreme, either (though I'm a Wisconsinite speaking about the weather in Florida, so I could be wrong) only about 30*f. An engineer from Morton Thiokol, the engine's maker, was trying like crazy to get the flight called off. His name is Roger Boisjoly. >From the St Petersburg Times: In January 1987, Boisjoly came forward and claimed he had warned his employer about the structural problems that caused the Challenger shuttle to explode a year earlier. Eventually, Morton Thiokol (which no longer exists) fired Boisjoly. And he was blacklisted by the aerospace industry from finding other work as an engineer. He now lives in Nevada and lectures on workplace ethics. -- G-Books is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-Books list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- >The Think Different Store http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
