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Hi Dina, I was reading about hailstones in the Bible and wonder what size (diameter) a hailstone would be if it weighed about 75 lbs? The reference I am referring to is Revelations 16:21. I found out that a talent would weigh about 75.6 lbs. Any ideas how big these hailstones could be? Thanks, Carol Clegg
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What an interesting question. The "talent" in this case is the hailstone. While most hailstones are not 75.6 pounds, that would be pretty wild. First let's look at some record sizes of hail, and then, we'll try to determine how big that one would be using some math.
The biggest hail to occur in this country was recently, and by big we're talking diameter and circumference (not weight). One June 22nd of 2003 in Aurora Nebraska, a thunderstorm dumped hail with a diameter of 7 inches and a circumference of 18.75 inches! That's huge!!!
This hail fell through and punctured roofs and put holes in people's lawns. A few braves soles likely donned helmets or something to get a few stones and freeze them so meteorologists could study them later, amazing! And of course, thanks to those people who braved their lives going out there in a dangerous situation to further science.
This monster stone in Aurora didn't break the record for the heaviest one though, that still goes to the Coffeyville hailstone in Kansas. A weight of 1.67 pounds. The Aurora stone likely melted some, so an accurate weight could not be calculated. Also pieces of those stones could have broken off as the stone hit the ground, so the stone could have been even larger!
So to calculate the "hypothetical" value of this biblical hailstone we must look at and make some assumptions. We have to assume the hailstone is a sphere (hailstones are usually jagged but this works better for our calculations). We also have to assume there is no air in it and we'll use the density of water.
We will need to know the following : 1 lb= 0.453 592 37 kilogram 75.6 lbs = 34,292 grams 2.54 cm=1 inch Density of water 1g per cm^3 Density=mass/volume Volume of a sphere=4/3 *pi* R^3 where R is the radius Circumference=pi*diameter Diameter=radius*2 pi=3.14
Fun with math, get your pencils and calculators ready if you want to try this at home!
So now, we 'know' the density and we have a mass, so we can use our densitiy equation to get the volume. By using these formulas, I won't list everything for you, but you can make some subsitutions in there, you can come up with an answer, remember this is in theory and is no way factual at all! Lots of assumptions.
Dr. Jason Shafer from Lyndon State and I did this over the phone, it was great having a review of this with a professor.
We calculated that the radius at approximately 20 cm. Or about 7.87 inches. So the diameter of this hail stone is about 15.75 inches (radius * 2). Multiply that by pi and you get a circumference around 49.4 inches!
So your hailstone would be 15.75 inches if it was a sphere and you cut it open and there was no air in it. And, if you measured around it, it would be 49.4 inches! Again, this is all speculation here!
That's a big hailstone!
Hopefully this math lesson was fun for everyone today, we use a lot of this in meteorology studies. Much thanks to Dr. Shafer for the help with this one!
Answered by KSL Meteorologist Dina Freedman
