Free Republic

LONDON (Reuters) - Cannon balls retrieved from ancient shipwrecks are wreaking thunderous havoc centuries later -- by exploding on the desks of archaeologists, New Scientist magazine said Wednesday. Robert Child, of the National Museums and Galleries of Wales in Cardiff, told the magazine that he had recorded several instances where the old rusted balls of metal started to heat up and turn red, or explode after being exposed to oxygen. In one case, a ball retrieved from a 1691 wreck heated up to a few hundred degrees after several minutes in the open air, began to glow a dull red...

Old balls still scorch Pores made shipwrecked cannon balls glow spontaneously. 6 May 2002 DAVID ADAM Cannonball run: iron may heat rapidly in air after years in the ocean. © AP Goodness gracious! Two British chemists believe they have solved the 26-year-old mystery of how shipwrecked cannonballs that were rescued from the deep spontaneously erupted into great balls of fire."They were glowing bright red and you could feel the heat coming off them as the desk began to smoke," recalls Bob Child, now a chemist at the National Museums and Galleries of Wales in Cardiff.It all happened in 1976,...