WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE?

During my childhood, the Bermuda Triangle held a significant fascination. This enigmatic trilateral region was renowned for its tales of missing ships and planes, which vanished without a trace. However, once scientific investigation replaced speculation, it became apparent that the mystery was relatively straightforward to explain. Today, we will discuss the Bermuda Triangle and dispel the myths surrounding this conspiracy. The most well-known aspect of the Bermuda Triangle is the disappearance of people. Since Flight 19 and its 14 crew members vanished in the area in 1945, legends of this cursed section of sea have proliferated as more and more aircraft and people have gone missing. What most people fail to appreciate about the triangle is its vast size. While maps of the supposed area vary, it can generally be described as the region spanning from Miami to San Juan, then stretching all the way to the island of Bermuda. That is a considerable expanse of ocean. All that space is situated in the middle of high traffic areas for boats and planes. Naturally, with a lot of traffic and a vast deep ocean, many people will go missing, or more accurately, they will not be found. One intriguing aspect of the Bermuda Triangle is not its propensity for magically swallowing up every ship that enters its domain, but rather the clouds. The skies above the triangle are filled with unusual hexagonal-shaped clouds with perfectly straight edges that can span from 20 to 55 miles across. While this may sound like something out of Sesame Street, the reality is not so pleasant. These precarious polygons create some pretty dangerous air blasts. The winds they generate reach up to 170 miles per hour and can slam any unfortunate vessels that happen to be in the area at the time. These clouds are also capable of shooting bursts of air directly down on top of planes, which, in turn, creates 45-foot waves for any ships that survived the initial blast. Hexagon clouds were probably not the shape you expected to be the culprit here. While we are on the subject of storms, we must bring up hurricanes. After all, the Atlantic Ocean is just lousy with them. Within the triangle itself, the cold air fronts that meet with the warm water create the perfect cocktail of chaotic weather. You do not want to be a weary water traveler when that happens. But as the story goes, too many do brave the nasty tempests and pay the price for not respecting the triangle. Everyone has their theories about what causes the disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle. Some say alien abductions, while others think sea monsters are responsible. However, one scientist, Karl Kruszelnicki, believes he can easily explain all the disappearances. His theory replaces aliens with bad weather and sea monsters with plain old human error. The patch of sea where the Bermuda Triangle is located is a particularly rough patch when it comes to the sky, the air, and, well, all of it. Pair that with high amounts of air and sea traffic driven by accident-prone humans, and you have yourself a recipe for disaster. Kruszelnicki believes the combination of high waves and even higher winds is a lethal trap for a distracted or inexperienced pilot or sailor. The triangle gets a bad reputation for the sheer number of ships and planes it devours. So much so that it is the subject of many statistical studies. One such study done by Lloyd's of London and the United States Coast Guard showed that, in fact, the Bermuda Triangle is not that special. The results from the study showed that the loss of life in cargo is the same percentage-wise as most any other area. However, media bias against the triangle aside, you cannot define such a large dangerous area and then be surprised when vessels start to go missing there. It is practically expected. As far as Bermuda Triangle theories go, one explanation claims that ships are disappearing into the lost city of Atlantis. The claims of a force field surrounding the city and fire crystals, which can burst into pure energy, are alleged to be the very things bringing down the planes and ships. However, this may actually just be methane gas, which can become trapped in ice molecules and become methane hydrate. While this theory may sound like a bit of a reach, it would absolutely impact ships the way this Atlantis conspiracy says it would. We have spent this whole article saying some pretty negative things about the Bermuda Triangle. So let us end with all of us saying one nice thing about the triangle. Despite its bad reputation, the triangle is not considered one of the danger zones for cargo ships. Sure, it has its fair share of tropical storms and turbulent weather, and of course, there are disappearances. But any cargo hauler will tell you that there are places so undesirable for ships that they make the Bermuda Triangle look like a kiddie pool. A study in 2013 that ranked the most hostile shipping environments was done by the WWF, the wildlife one, not the hit you upside the head with the