• picture
  • picture
  • picture
  • picture
Public Radio's Environmental News Magazine (follow us on Google News)

Emerging Science Note/Mine Hazards

Air Date: Week of

Why the worst mining accidents seem to always happen around the holidays.



Transcript

YOUNG: It’s Living on Earth. I’m Jeff Young, and coming up: Cracking down on one of the last sources of unregulated pollution: America's busy seaports. First this Note on Emerging Science from Rachel Gotbaum.

[SCIENCE NOTE THEME]

GOTBAUM: Winter is the most dangerous time for mine workers. That’s because explosions like the one that recently killed 12 miners and critically injured another in West Virginia are more likely to occur in cold weather.

Cold weather lowers the barometric pressure, and the lower pressure enables an odorless, colorless but highly flammable gas called methane to seep out of the mine rock and accumulate. Colder weather also brings dryer air which dries out the coal dust in the mine and makes it more explosive. In the winter months, to offset the accumulating methane, mine workers often turn up the ventilation system to disperse the gas from the mine shaft. But that ventilation system also keeps the coal dust from getting moisture and increases the explosive hazard.

So even a spark resulting from something as seemingly innocuous as static electricity can cause an explosion in a mine under winter conditions.

That’s this week’s Note on Emerging Science. I’m Rachel Gotbaum.

 

 

Living on Earth wants to hear from you!

Living on Earth
62 Calef Highway, Suite 212
Lee, NH 03861
Telephone: 617-287-4121
E-mail: comments@loe.org

Newsletter [Click here]

Donate to Living on Earth!
Living on Earth is an independent media program and relies entirely on contributions from listeners and institutions supporting public service. Please donate now to preserve an independent environmental voice.

Newsletter
Living on Earth offers a weekly delivery of the show's rundown to your mailbox. Sign up for our newsletter today!

Sailors For The Sea: Be the change you want to sea.

Creating positive outcomes for future generations.

Innovating to make the world a better, more sustainable place to live. Listen to the race to 9 billion

The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment: Committed to protecting and improving the health of the global environment.

Contribute to Living on Earth and receive, as our gift to you, an archival print of one of Mark Seth Lender's extraordinary wildlife photographs. Follow the link to see Mark's current collection of photographs.

Buy a signed copy of Mark Seth Lender's book Smeagull the Seagull & support Living on Earth