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tracey_c
Gold Member
 England
1009 Posts |
 Posted - 22 Feb 2005 : 5:16:50 PM
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Exerpt from New Scientist 11/12/04
" In 1931, the peace and quiet of the New Zealand ountryside was shattered by a terrifying new phenomenon: suddenly, and apparently at random, men's trousers bagan to explode. Some pairs detonated on the washing line, others as they dried in front of the fire. More seriously some were occupied when they started to smoulder. At first there were just a few isolated reports, but soon the nation was in the grip of an epidemic of exploding trousers.
Richard Buckley was lucky. When his trousers blew up he wasn't wearing them. He was badly shocked, but as the Hawera Star reported on August 12th 1931, his quick thinking saved him from serious injury. 'While Mr Richard Buckley's trousers were drying before the fire recently, they exploded with a loud report. Although partially stunned by the force of the explosion, he had sufficient presence of mind to seize the garments and hurl them from the house, where they smouldered on the lawn with a series of minor detonations.'
The explanation wasn't hard to find. The dangerously self-
destructive garments all belonged to farmers who had been trying to destroy the ragwort that was ruining their pastures. This pernicious weed had reached New Zealand decades earlier and was now running riot across the country. The farmers' latest weapon on the war on the weed was sodium chlorate. But when combined with organic material, such as cotton and woolen fibres, the mixture becomes violently explosive."
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********G4 ROCK********
*****BUT NOT AS MUCH AS THE ARABIAN!***** |
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