[Poland308]

Compost heaps if taken care of properly achieve temperatures hot enough to kill bacteria and cook weed seeds to make them unable to germinate. Some of the local farms use compost setups to get rid of animal carcasses. A 300# pig can be totally gone,teeth and bones as well in just a few weeks. But these setups sometimes catch fire or smolder if not aerated regularly.
The coal pile at the power plant catches fire regularly during rainy spells. That's why they are out on the pile with the dozers moving it back and forth all the time.

[Otto Nobedder]

The coal pile at the power plant catches fire regularly during rainy spells. That's why they are out on the pile with the dozers moving it back and forth all the time.

That's why ADM built that huge coal dome at their co-gen plant in Clinton, IA., and I think they still rake the pile. If you've ever seen it, you understand why the locals call it the "titty dome" BTW, that was our designated storm shelter during the build, as it's designed to survive an EF-5 tornado. It was also the rally point for evacuations.

Steve S

[Poland308]

I've driven by but I haven't worked in that plant.

[homeboy]

The theory now is the Titanic sank because a long lasting coal bunker fire that they couldn't extinquish weakened the outer hull plates which split when hitting the iceberg. Maybe spontaneous combustion was the culprit

[Farmwelding]

The theory now is the Titanic sank because a long lasting coal bunker fire that they couldn't extinquish weakened the outer hull plates which split when hitting the iceberg. Maybe spontaneous combustion was the culprit

Or maybe they sank the ship to put out the fire?

Regardless. The ship could have easily avoided collision or even if not avoided the collision they could have reduced the impact by hitting head on and at the full speed with the course they were on. My father used to be a first mate on freighter vessels in Lake Michigan so he must know something about ships.

[weldin mike 27]

Maybe it got wheely wheely hot.

[Poland308]

Maybe it got wheely wheely hot.

[exnailpounder]

The theory now is the Titanic sank because a long lasting coal bunker fire that they couldn't extinquish weakened the outer hull plates which split when hitting the iceberg. Maybe spontaneous combustion was the culprit

The theory I heard is the crappy steel they used to plate the hull was brittle and became even more so by being in cold water but I can agree with the coal fire theory too.

[electrode]

Chinese steel.

[Farmwelding]

Chinese steel.

So British ship, Irish workers, Chinese steel-steel is thin and cheap, fire in the belly of the ship, hit an iceberg and boom sunken ship.

only one question...why Chinese steel. China was not a large steel manufacturer from 1910-1912 during the building of the ship and it would have been British steel, seeing that Britain was the largest manufacturer at the time of steel. So what can we learn? British steel is bad...maybe?

[ldbtx]

Chinese steel.

So British ship, Irish workers, Chinese steel-steel is thin and cheap, fire in the belly of the ship, hit an iceberg and boom sunken ship.

only one question...why Chinese steel. China was not a large steel manufacturer from 1910-1912 during the building of the ship and it would have been British steel, seeing that Britain was the largest manufacturer at the time of steel. So what can we learn? British steel is bad...maybe?

Metallurgy was not advanced enough to anticipate the problem of the steel weakening in the extremely cold water.

[Farmwelding]

I couldn't imagine wooden ships and what they did in cold water. Those joints have to be strong as hell to resist the shrinkage in the cold and then expanding in the sun. These people are far better craftsman than I probably ever will be. Hand cut joints and figuring all the complex joinery without metal devices with just a pad and pen.

[Poland308]

In the era of wooden ships a pen would have been a luxury item. Probably pencils or charred sticks.

[Lightning]

My mom used to live near a place where they shredded up the offcuts from sawmills, and even entire logs, to make hardwood mulch for gardens. They used machines to push this shredded wood up into tall (20' high) piles, and they had automatic sprinklers to wet it down. Every time I drove past that place you could see the heat and steam coming up off the piles. You could also smell it.

I suspect that, just like with compost heaps, there were bacteria that were "digesting" the mulch, and the heat of their metabolism is what made the piles of mulch give off so much heat and steam. And I think the automatic sprinklers were important not just to give the bacteria the water they needed to live, but also to prevent the piles from catching on fire.