A Very Sticky Situation
There are disasters you can imagine striking. Flood. Fire. Hurricane. Earthquake. Then there is Boston on January 15, 1919. That day, a vast steel storage tank in the North End suddenly burst apart and released an enormous flood of molasses into the streets. And whatever speed you imagine molasses traveling…forget it.
Today’s Trivia Question
When the tank burst, about how fast did experts say the first wave of molasses raced through Boston?
(pick one to reveal the answer)
Bonus points if you know how much molasses the tank contained.
| A Few More for Fun… |
Once the streets were covered in molasses, what did the cleanup crews determine helped to wash it away?
(pick one to reveal the answer)
What did the company that owned the tank suggest had caused the disaster?
(pick one to reveal the answer)
Residents had complained that the giant tank was leaking. What had the company reportedly done about it?
(pick one to reveal the answer)
| A Few More Trivia Questions Before You Go… |
We know that molasses can travel 35 mph, a leaking tank can be “repaired” with paint, and Boston Harbor was once used to help clean up millions of gallons of molasses. There is nowhere authentically logical to go from here, so onward it is!
Science
As the spilled molasses cooled in the bitter January air, researchers say its viscosity could increase by roughly how much?
(pick one to reveal the answer)
History
What major change to the U.S. Constitution was ratified the day after the Molasses Flood?
(pick one to reveal the answer)
Geography
A shipment of molasses had arrived from Puerto Rico shortly before the tank burst. Puerto Rico is the easternmost island of which Caribbean island group?
(pick one to reveal the answer)
Movies
What 1984 adventure-comedy opens with a fictional Western villain threatening someone with a death “slower than molasses in January”?
(pick one to reveal the answer)
Language
Answers
Today’s question Answer: C. About 35 mph. When that tank failed shortly after 12 pm that day, the first surge tore through the North End at an estimated 35 mph. Buildings were destroyed, a section of elevated railway was damaged, and 21 people were killed while another 150 or so were injured. If you wonder why there was a “first surge”, you’ll have to read on… Bonus if you said the tank held around 2.3 million gallons of molasses. That 35 mph may not seem impressive in a car, but it is far more impressive when you think that the molasses was moving at a speed no human can run. | |
| 01 | Answer: B. Salt water. City workers pumped salt water from Boston Harbor to help break down the molasses, and they then used sand to absorb the remaining mess. It took weeks to clean up, and many found molasses far beyond the neighborhood. |
| 02 | Answer: C. An anarchist’s bomb. The owners, United States Industrial Alcohol, said that a bomb-planting anarchist might have been responsible. However, investigators eventually found a far less intriguing answer: the tank was structurally inadequate, and the company was held liable. |
| 03 | Answer: D. Painted it brownish-red. According to one historian, the tank leaked so regularly that the company painted it a molasses-like hue to help camouflage the ongoing leaks running down its sides. |
| 04 | Answer: C. Four times or more the normal level. Viscosity measures a fluid’s resistance to flowing. Researchers who studied the flood's physics found that the cold made the molasses dramatically more viscous after that initial surge, as it burst the tank and poured out into the city only to cool rapidly and turn into a slower-moving flow (see, we promised an explanation). That meant that the same molasses that had poured through the streets might have quickly become so thick that rescue was far more difficult. |
| 05 | Answer: B. Prohibition. The 18th Amendment was ratified on January 16, 1919, one day after the flood. That tank had stored molasses used for producing alcohol, including industrial alcohol. While rescuers cleaned up millions of gallons of raw ingredients for alcohol production from Boston’s streets, the country was soon to be dry. History is not without irony. |
| 06 | Answer: B. Greater Antilles. This is the island group that also includes Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Cuba. The shipment was already processed into molasses before it left Puerto Rico and was then sent on to Boston, arriving shortly before the incident and topping up the tank to roughly 2.3 million gallons. And while we’re still talking about molasses moving… |
| 07 | Answer: A. Romancing the Stone. The line comes from a melodramatic opening scene in one of Joan Wilder’s romance novels. When the villain threatens a “death slower than molasses in January,” Joan’s narration quietly corrects: “But it was October.” And that brings us to the word itself… |
| 08 | Answer: D. Portuguese. English borrowed molasses from Portuguese melaço, which traces back to the Latin word for honey. You also find the same root in marmalade and mellifluous. |
How did you do? Score 1 point for each correct answer and 1 point for each bonus you knew. Perfect score: 10.
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