Post up facts and things that hardly anyone knows...... (for entertainment purposes only. NO need to fact check)

[Photon440]

“lbs” comes from the Latin word “libra,” which means “pound.”

 

[Kern Dog]

My ex had a huge abundance of excessive libras.

 

[68gtxman]

The tip of the Washington Monument is made from a block of aluminum.

On a breezy December 6, 1884, the 36-year construction of the Washington Monument was completed with the placing of an 8.9 inch tall, 100-ounce pyramid of solid aluminum atop the capstone. Why not silver or gold? Why a commonplace metal that we routinely buy rolls of in the grocery store or drink beverages from every day?

Aluminum is indeed one of the most common elements in the earth’s crust, after silicon and oxygen, but it does not naturally occur in metallic form and in the late 19th century was difficult to process. Its most important ore is bauxite, named after the French castle Les Baux, in Provence, where it was first discovered.

 

[DeltaV]

Lee Iacocca raised over $350 million to fix Lady Liberty whose torch-bearing arm was corroded and swayed perilously in strong winds. But despite raising the money, his undiplomatic ways got him fired as chair of the statue's restoration work.

 

[DeltaV]

The first known inhabitants of what is now New York City were the Lenape, an Indigenous people native to the northeastern U.S. Their villages were groupings of round-shaped wigwams constructed from bark. The name “Manhattan” comes from the Lenape “Manahatta,” their word for the hilly, forested area that became one of the biggest cities in the world.

 

[GTXDAN]

Nitrogen has also been employed to reduce ignition risks in the transportation of flammable dry bulk products. I dealt with it personally in unloading powdered magnesium. The trailer would be pressurized by means of a closed nitrogen system, with gas being captured when it was done pushing product through the pipe.

In a closed space such as a tanker, it's deadly, immediately replacing oxygen, and leading to loss of consciousness in about 20 seconds. I initially learned of the danger from another driver, while we were waiting at a tank wash.
My employer lost a mechanic to a nitrogen blanket early in my career. I pushed hard for confined space training when I got into management, and I always worried it wasn't enough.

All new commercial a/c have nitrogen systems to keep the fuel tanks purged of oxygen. The system takes nitrogen from the outside air.
This all came from the TWA 747 going down out of NYC.

 

[Photon440]

All new commercial a/c have nitrogen systems to keep the fuel tanks purged of oxygen. The system takes nitrogen from the outside air.
This all came from the TWA 747 going down out of NYC.

Although the FAA required only the center fuel tanks to be nitrogen purged, Boeing decided to do all their tanks on the 787 because the composite wings didn't cool down as fast as aluminum wings.

 

[DeltaV]

OBIGGS for those that want more reading materials.