A few days ago I was doing a little snooping about youtube when I came across the Bermuda Triangle and I decided that I should write about it and the different theories that people have about it.

So the Bermuda Triangle is an area in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is also known as the Devil’s Triangle. The Bermuda triangle is a region where several ships and aircraft have been told to have disappeared due to inexplicable circumstances. This area is around 500,000 square miles of ocean, which adds up to a large region.

When Christopher Columbus has sailed through this area on his way to the Americas/New World, on his first voyage he apparently claimed that, “A great flame of fire crashed into the sea one night and that a stranger light had appeared in the great distance a few weeks later. “ He had apparently also written about aimless compass examinations.

Strange?

I would think so.

To add to the mysteriousness of the region, William Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest” is claimed to be based on a real-life shipwreck which could have taken place in the Bermuda Triangle. However, what is questionable is if the play is based on a shipwreck in the Triangle, how did Shakespeare find out?

Nevertheless, these unexplained disappearances didn’t capture the attention of the public in the 20th century until the infamous tragedy of ‘The Cyclops’ in March 1918. ‘The Cyclops’ was a “542-foot-long Navy cargo ship with over 300 men and 10,000 tons of manganese ore onboard, sank somewhere between Barbados and the Chesapeake Bay.” Yet, the ship never sent an SOS call despite the fact that they were equipped to do so nor was there any wreckage.  “Only God and the sea know what happened to the great ship,” U.S. President Woodrow Wilson later said.” Strangely, ‘The Cyclops’ had 2 sisters which too had similarly vanished without a single trace through the identical course. Now a steady pattern appeared of crafts which crossed the Bermuda Triangle, would either disappear or be found abandoned.

Although all the stories about the Bermuda Triangle sound mysterious and convincing. The one which stood out to me the most was the story of Amelia Earhart. Amelia Earhart was an aviator and had gained a lot of publicity as she was one of the first female aviators. She was known as the first female to fly around and across the Atlantic. The flight was from Newfoundland. Canada to Wales, Great Britain. This bought her a lot of great fame. After a few successful flights in March, Earhart flew a plane to Miami (on June 1st) to attempt at flying around the world. Amelia and her companions made stops in South America, Africa, India, and Southeast Asia and they arrived in New Guinea, on June 29. Around 20,000 miles of their journey was completed however, 7000 miles was left over the Pacific Ocean to complete their expedition.

However, Earhart sent radio messages about her position (to Howland) which was around Lockheed, a ship nearby. But, Howland was unable to pinpoint their destination or the Lockheed’s. It could be possible that Amelia tried to land on water, but if she landed Earhart and Noonan (her partner) may have been able to escape the plane with a ‘life raft’. There was no physical evidence of the plane found by the Coast Guard or the U.S Navy. Several other searches failed to find any traces to Earhart and Noonan.

Was it because they were in the Bermuda Triangle that they were unable to contact Howland? Was there another force which took control of the Lockheed and later Amelia Earhart?

There are several theories which could possibly help to better the understanding of the activity in the Bermuda Triangle.

The first is the Methane Gas Theory. Large amounts of gas are known to exist under the ocean floor and be trapped in the form of ‘Methane hydrates’. If a gas like this can find its way out and rises through the water, then it can reduce the density of the water. Hence why ships can sink over time. Methane gas can also create explosions and the gas can cause planes to crash.

The second theory is of the Sargasso Sea. The Sargasso Sea is actually an area within the Bermuda Triangle. It apparently has no shores but is “bounded by the current of the ocean from all sides”. This could possibly be the trap for the several ships which pass through. This region of the sea is covered with dense seaweed which creates a thick mat on the surface. This seaweed is also known as Sargassum, hence the name. It has been said that “the Sargasso Sea remains calm with its surrounding currents, a subtropical gyre is formed here. As a result, the entire sea area with its mat like weeds slowly rotates clockwise.”

The third Theory is of the Hexagonal clouds which form Air Bombs. Scientist and meteorologists have confirmed that there is a formation of strange hexagonal shaped clouds which have straight edges in the Bermuda Triangle. It has been confirmed that these clouds are like air bombs. These air bombs can send out winds to the sea at speeds of 170mph which is dangerous for aircraft and ships. These bombs’ explosions can also create gigantic waves (45 feet) and create winds around 100mph which can similarly be extremely dangerous.

There are several other theories such as the Electronic one which states that there is an electronic fog which causes electronic instruments to malfunction and later cause ships to disintegrate. Another theory like the Treacherous Underwater reefs which could have possibly sunken the ships. There is always the possibility of Whirlpools and Blue Holes which can cause ships to get sucked into. Strange weather, hurricane and freak waves (as high as 30m) could also possibly be the cause.

The truth is that we will never really know what happens in the Bermuda Triangle, nor will we know what happened to the 50+ ships and 20+ planes which have disappeared in this incredibly dangerous region.

Like many other phenomenon of the universe, this remains unexplained.

 

sites:

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/amelia-earhart-disappears

https://www.history.com/topics/bermuda-triangle

https://bigthink.com/paul-ratner/the-mystery-of-the-bermuda-triangle-may-finally-be-solved

https://www.bermuda-attractions.com/bermuda2_000061.htm

So the other day, I was studying Biology – Characteristics of Living Things, when I came upon a Swedish Botanist, Carolus Linnaeus who devised a system of classification, which is still used today. Personally, I found this incredibly intriguing as the idea of classifying organisms in specific patterns and tables can help to explain the great diversity of life on Earth.

 

In 1753, Carolus Linnaeus formulated a system which would help to classify these organisms.

 

In total, there are 5 Kingdoms,

1. Prokaryote – Bacteria

2. Protista – a collection of single-celled organisms and some simple multicellular ones such as seaweeds;

3. Fungi – mushrooms, toadstools, and molds;

4. Plantae – Green plants

5. Animalia – the animal kingdom (including us humans)

 

Within each Kingdom, the organisms are further classified into several phyla, also known as divisions for plants. A division/phyla are made up of different classes. Each class contains an order which includes a variety of families. The families are further classified into a number of genera or genus. Similarly, the genera comprise of its own species.  Thus, from simply analyzing the biological system of classification, it is evident that it is considerably complicated.

 

Kingdoms:

Kingdoms are the most basic classification of living things. Currently there are five kingdoms. Living things are placed into certain kingdoms based on how they obtain their food.

 

Phylum:

The phylum is the next level following kingdom in the classification of living things. It is an attempt to find some kind of physical similarities among organisms within a kingdom. Physical similarities suggest that there is a common heritage among those organisms in a particular phylum.

 

Classes:

They are the way to further divide organisms of a phylum. Organisms of a class have even more in common than those in an entire phylum. Humans belong to the Mammal Class because we drink milk as a baby.

 

Order:

Organisms in each class are further broken down into orders. A ‘taxonomy key’ is used to determine to which order an organism belongs. A taxonomy key is nothing more than a checklist of characteristics that determines how organisms are grouped together.

 

Families:

Orders are divided into families. Organisms within a family have more in common than with organisms in any classification level above it. Because they share so much in common, organisms of a family are said to be related to each other. Humans are in the Hominidae Family.

 

Genus:

Genus is a way to describe the generic name for an organism. The genus classification is very specific so there are fewer organisms within each one. For this reason there are a lot of different genera among both animals and plants. When using taxonomy to name an organism, the genus is used to determine the first part of its two-part name.

 

Species:

Species are as specific as you can get. It is the lowest and most strict level of classification of living things. The main criterion for an organism to be placed in a particular species is the ability to breed with other organisms of that same species. The species of an organism determines the second part of its two-part name.

 

A very common name given to an organism may vary in different parts of the world. This can cause confusion. Linnaeus used Latin to give 2 different names to organisms. This system of naming is called ‘Binomial system’

• The first name always refers to the genus to which the organism belongs to

• While the second name is the species name and it starts with a small letter

For example the ‘Domestic Cat’

First name: genus – Felis

Second name: species – domestica

Thus the scientific name for a domestic cat is ‘Felis domestica’

Another example: Ordinary house cats

Class: Mammalia

Order: Carnivora

Family: Felidae

Genus: Felis

Species: domestica

 

I think that this was very interesting as it was something different and it was the historical element of what we learn in school. I absolutely enjoyed researching on this.

 

Bibliography:

https://www.britannica.com/science/taxonomy/The-Linnaean-system#ref498160

Biology Matters Text Book