Faster than a speeding dog?

By: Tyler Christofferson

            There are a lot of surprising facts out there on the internet that people just take for granted. There are scientific facts that, because we read them, we just take as truth. It is easy to believe because you don’t have any reason to doubt it. It might seem legitimate because you have heard similarly, or because there are statistics to accompany, or maybe just because you trust the source. How often do we really check and see if it is truth though? Is there any truth out there to these claims? An article in the Huffington Post called “11 Science Facts that Seem more like Science Fiction” (Liat Komowski, 11/28/2013) gives some pretty interesting facts: “The human brain takes in 11 million bits of information every second but is aware of only 40.”, “If you drilled a tunnel straight through the Earth and jumped in, it would take you exactly 42 minutes and 12 seconds to get to the other side.”, “A medium-sized cumulus cloud weighs about the same as 80 elephants.”, “A single bolt of lightning contains enough energy to cook 100,000 pieces of toast.”, and “Human saliva contains a painkiller called opiorphin that is six times more powerful than morphine.” However, I have heard that 82% of facts are made up on the spot (That might be true, but who knows). My point being, just because you hear something is true doesn’t make it so.

            I decided to take the statement “Lava can flow as fast as a sprinting greyhound” and see if that was the truth.

           

            This is an interesting claim because it is very subjective to circumstance. For instance, there are many different speeds for greyhound dogs. Older dogs are pretty slow; to the point when you could say a glacier is as fast a greyhound. It makes sense that they would phrase it so that it could be argued to be true. Either way, I thought I would figure it out.

            Greyhounds have been raced since 1876 (greyhoundracinghistory.co.uk). Their speeds have been pushed and increased ever since until they have become one of the animal kingdom’s iconic speedsters. According to “No Force Limit on Greyhound Sprint Speed” (Nature magazine, Dec 2005), when a greyhound reaches the bend of the track is when it reaches its top speed potential. The force of the momentum off the strait of the track allows the dog to grip the ground with optimal traction. This added traction gives the dog the ability to reach average speeds of 16-17 meters per second or 38 miles per hour. That is the time to match.

            Lava is igneous rock super-heated to temperatures of 700 - 1,200 °C or 1,292 - 2,192 °F becoming liquid and erupting from inside the earth. Before erupting it is called magma. The magma is under so much pressure that it forces itself to the surface and then is called lava. (Dictionary.com) The lava, once it has escaped into the open atmosphere, spreads out and relieves the pressure built up and rapidly cools. This creates what are called lava flows. Lava flows have been recorded on average at 10 kilometers per hour or 6 miles per hour at the edges. However, on a steep slope can reach 30 kilometers per hour or 19 miles an hour. (“Lava flows destroy everything in their path” volcanoes.usgs.gov). However, in 1977 from the side of Mt. Nyiragongo in the Congo, there were some pretty crazy statistics. A buildup of magma inside the side of the volcano created a lake of magma that when it burst sent lava down it’s slopes at 100 kilometers an hour or 62 miles per hour (“Could it Happen Here?”, http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov /volcanowatch).

            This claim is true. Lava can flow as fast as a sprinting greyhound. Greyhound dogs are averaged a speed of 38 miles per hour while racing and a specific lava flow was clocked at 62 miles per hour. Granted, these statistics are not the exact speeds of every greyhound nor every lava flow. However, the claim is very nonspecific. A lava flow can in fact flow as fast if not faster than a non-specified sprinting greyhound. Several variables could disprove certain circumstantial situations, but as it was worded, the claim holds true.