Debunking the Bermuda Triangle free essay sample

Jorge Thompson Debunking the Bermuda Triangle The Bermuda Triangle is a triangular area in the Atlantic Ocean right off of the southeast coast of the United States. Legend has it that many people, ships, and planes have mysteriously vanished in this area because of the area’s mystical properties. These properties have formed several theories for the disappearances. They carry little validity and fail to take into account simple scientific and logical facts. The Bermuda Triangle can be easily explained by simple facts and there is no mystery that needs to be solved. The Bermuda Triangle legend began when several Navy planes vanished on a training mission during a severe storm in 1945. The legend continued to grow over the years as many more vehicles disappeared in the area. Instead of attributing the accidents to natural storms or instrument error, believers explain the incidences as the acts of evil extraterrestrials, residue crystals from Atlantis, magnetic fields, or methane gas. The easiest way that the Bermuda Triangle can be disproven is by investigating the assumptions of the believers. Some of the explanations for the Bermuda Triangle seem to be scientific in nature. The magnetic disturbance and methane gas explanations both use scientific language in order to assert the claims. The theories are not substantiated by the mere use of scientific language. In fact, they are discredited after finding that there is not any evidence behind them. The magnetic theory is easily disproven. The Bermuda Triangle is claimed to be one of the two places on earth that a magnetic compass points toward true (and not magnetic) north. The difference between true and magnetic north is known as compass variation and can cause variations as much as 20 degrees. The area where true and magnetic north are equal is called the Agonic Line. This line is supposedly the cause of the anomalies in the triangle. The Agonic Line moves slowly over time as it responds to the Earth’s rotation. At present, the line is now on the west side of the Florida panhandle while the disappearances continue to happen in the triangle area. The second â€Å"scientific† theory is the methane explanation. This theory was introduced by Monash University in the American Journal of Physics and stated that methane deposits on the ocean floor produced vast gas bubbles which were capable of sinking ships and crashing airplanes. This theory has some validity to it, but only in limited situations. â€Å"For a large methane bubble to be produced quickly, it would probably have to be released by a catastrophic drop in pressure† (Deming). This dramatic drop in pressure is possible if a submarine landslide occurs, but these slides are few and far in between, making this theory unlikely. Scientific language does not make a science. Arguments â€Å"†¦mean nothing without evidence, experimental testing, and corroboration† (Shermer 49). The claims simply do not meet the burden of proof. The extraterrestrial argument is easily debunked by this fallacy as well. There is simply no evidence to support the claims of extraterrestrial interference. Believers may say that there is no evidence to support these skeptical arguments. There may not be evidence to support the skeptical arguments, but this does not make the claims of the believers true. The Bermuda Triangle has another simple and non-mysterious explanation. There is some dispute about the exact area that comprises the triangle. The general consensus is that the points on the triangle are Miami, the island of Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. Some estimates include the Andes and the Gulf of Mexico in the triangle. The area is about the size of Texas. An exact number of incidents that have occurred in the area is unknown. A rough estimate is about 200 to 1,000 incidents in the past 500 years. A more conservative estimate is given by Howard L. Rosenberg. â€Å"During the past century more than 50 ships and 20 aircraft sailed into oblivion in the area known as the Devils Triangle, Bermuda Triangle, Hoodoo Sea, or a host of other names† (Rosenberg 13). This estimate was published in 1974 and it is reasonable to assume that traffic has increased since then. However, according to the Navy, the incidences in the Bermuda Triangle are not more numerous than any other area. â€Å"To see how common accidents are at sea, you can examine some of the recent accident reports of the National Transportation Safety Board for  ships  and  aircraft† (The Bermuda Triangle). The reports show hundreds of incidents occurring all over the world. Few take place in the triangle area and those that do take place in the area are easily explainable by such things as engine failures or running out of fuel. One of the aircraft accident reports concerns an in-flight engine failure and subsequent ditching of a Cessna aircraft This is the type of accident that would likely have been attributed to mysterious causes in the Bermuda Triangle†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (The Bermuda Triangle). The accidents in the triangle happened because of human error, meteorological factors, or instrument failure, not because of mystical properties. Facts are important to reinforce a ny argument or claim. The facts surrounding some of the stories about the disappearances or crashes in the Bermuda Triangle do not exactly correspond on all points. Some of the crashes do not have any surviving witnesses to explain exactly what happened. The public has relied on speculation and superstition to fill a need for an explanation where that need could have just as easily been filled with logical and scientific reasoning. Natural events such as hurricanes and tropical storms can crash airplanes and ships and are much more easily proved than aliens planning to destroy humanity. Some of the basic facts and supposed evidence that support the Bermuda Triangle phenomenon do not make logically sound arguments, but they do make sensational stories.