The bermuda triangle

The Bermuda triangle
The "Bermuda or Devil's Triangle" is an imaginary area located off the southeastern Atlantic coast of the United States, which is noted for a high incidence of unexplainedlosses of ships, small boats, and aircraft. Some people have claimed that these disappearances fall beyond the boundaries of human error or acts of nature. Some of these disappearances have been attributedto the paranormal, a suspension of the laws of physics, or activity by extraterrestrial beings by popular culture.

Every investigator worth his salt has postulated a number of theories thatattempt to satisfactorily explain the mysterious happenings at the Bermuda triangle. Some of the more bizarre explanations include extra-terrestrials, the presence of a huge magnet, the position of themoon, sudden appearing of giant waves, time space warps, electrostatic charges, and the return of the inhabitants of the lost city Atlanta. There have been innumerable books that have been writtenregarding the unusual phenomenon which take place in this area.

One of the more credible theories seems to belong to Dr Richard McIver, who centers his explanation on the presence of methane hydrate.Methane hydrate was first encountered in the 1920s and 1930s in the early days of the American and Soviet gas industries. Natural gases were being piped across the Atlantic but occasionally the pipeswould become mysteriously plugged up.

All gases except for helium, hydrogen and neon can form hydrates if enough gas and water are present, if the pressure is high enough and if the temperature is lowenough. These conditions can be found naturally occurring on earth, and methane hydrate has been found to exist in huge quantities in many parts of the sea floor and is concentrated in some places oncontinental slopes such as the Bermuda Triangle. The structure of the molecule of methane hydrate is such that it facilitates the capturing of a large amount of gas. If this were to break-up, then...