In case you’ve ever wondered about the science of deciduous trees: Here is some humor from Sheep Films:

When I was growing up, the cell was known as the simplest form of life. With nanotechnology, we have found that the cell is not so simple. In fact, it is quite beautiful and fascinating. Watch this and ask yourself if you still believe there is no God . . .

Here is an example of the damage large hail can do:

What is the best way for Tom to demonstrate the potential for a one hundred pound hail?

My friend, Tom Leger, is conducting an experiment with one hundred pound hail. What got his attention and his curiosity was reading of the Plague of Hail in the Seventh Bowl of Wrath. This is in the Bible, in the sixteenth chapter of Revelation. Revelation is the last book of the Bible and it is a fascinating book to read because God reveals everything that is going to happen at the end of time. That is the time just before man and earth no longer exist.

Before we get into Tom’s experiment, let’s take a quick look at what the Bible has to say about hail, in general, and what that all has to do with the plague of hail at the end of time.

What Does the Bible Say About Hail?

Hail is mentioned twenty-six times in the Bible. Fourteen of those accounts relate to the plagues God sent against the nation of Egypt to convince them to release His people, the Israelites. The hail destroyed crops, trees and killed man and beast.

Behold, about this time tomorrow, I will send a very heavy hail, such as has not been seen in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. . . Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt. So there was hail, and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very severe, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. The hail struck all that was in the field through all the land of Egypt, both man and beast; the hail also struck every plant of the field and shattered every tree of the field. [Exodus 9:18-25 NASB]

The last two mentions of hail refer to two plagues in the Book of Revelation. Most the rest either remember the plagues against Egypt or warn of the plagues to come.

In the Revelation account, there are two plagues: the First Angel Trumpet Plague and the Seventh Angel Bowl Plague. It is the Seventh Bowl Plague that caught the curiosity of Tom.

The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. [Rev 8:7 NIV]

The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!” Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. From the sky huge hailstones of about a hundred pounds each fell upon men. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible. [Rev 16:17-21 NIV]

Modern translations of the Bible say the weight of the hail will be about one hundred pounds. The King James and New King James say the weight is about one talent. Depending upon what resources you use to convert the talent into pounds, you will find the talent equal to a range of seventy-five to one hundred twenty-five pounds. So, about one hundred pounds is a good middle-of-the-road conclusion.

How Big is a One Hundred Pound Hail?

We know that one gallon of water equals 8.33 pounds. So one hundred pounds of water or ice is equal to twelve gallons.

One US gallon is 0.133681 cubic feet. Therefore, 12 gallons equal 1.6 cubic feet.

1.6 feet equals nineteen inches (1.6 x 12 inches).

1.6 cubic feet equals 6859 cubic inches (19×19x19).

The radius of a sphere equal to 6859 cubic inches is 11.789 (4/3)πr³). This means the ball is 23.5 inches in diameter - the size of one hundred pound hail stones.

Here is a POINT OF CONTENTION:

Tom claims the sphere is closer to a 14 inch cube, basing his premise on the cube being 19×12x12. His logic is that a cube is 12×12x12, thus a nineteen inch cube would be 19×12x12. He says he has good math to back this up - and that the box he is using is 19×12x12 inches. This is approximately 2700 cubic inches.

Judging purely with empirical data and guts, I would have to conclude that a 14 inch sphere looks closer to one hundred pounds than does a 23 inch sphere. But we will leave all that to the scientists.

Here are a couple of links to gather more information on hail:

tornadochaser.net

Besides information on how large hail is formed, this site also includes a chart of the windspeed required to produce the various sizes of hail. For example, a BB size (1/4 inch) hail needs less than 24 MPH winds to form; half-inch hail needs 35 mph winds; tennis ball sized hail is produced by 77 mph winds and softball size (4.5 inch) needs more than one hundred mile per hour winds!

large hail photos - notice the spikes….ouch!

What Do You Think?

You watched the video and you read this advance - Tom wants to know what you think would be the best way to demonstrate the impact of this 100 pound hail. He is going to video this but he wants to do something a little more dramatic than dropping a toilet, or the box of one hundred pound ice, from a platform or roof.

What do you think?