Life on Earth with T-Rex

QUESTION Would humans have been able to breathe the atmosphere during the era of the dinosaurs?

Yes, as you opened the door of your Tardis, the air you breathed would keep you alive.

In the age of the dinosaurs, there were no significant quantities of toxic gases and there was enough oxygen to support life on the planet.

This had not always been true. The air wouldn’t sustain you on a Tardis visit more than half a billion years ago.

In the early life of the earth, the air did not contain any oxygen. This started to be produced by photosynthetic microorganisms using light to combine carbon dioxide and water to produce carbohydrates and release oxygen.

This gas would have been toxic to existing life forms. The earth’s minerals and metals such as iron were reactive to oxygen and acted as oxygen sinks. It also dissolved in the seas.

Oxygen in the atmosphere increased sharply just before the Cambrian explosion when large multi-cellular organisms started to appear in the fossil record.

In the carboniferous period, air was up to 35 per cent oxygen — probably the maximum possible. This supported giant insects that could not live in the 21 per cent oxygen of today’s atmosphere.

The level of oxygen declined and may have been very low at the end of the Permian period during the largest mass extinction the world has seen.

It is thought that the Mesozoic era, the age of the dinosaurs, had an atmosphere similar to our own.

Methods to determine ancient oxygen levels include measuring fossil air bubbles in amber, but results are contradictory. Given the 190 million-year span of the Mesozoic era, it is likely that oxygen levels varied from 15 per cent to more than 30 per cent.

These levels would be good enough for a short visit in the Tardis, but longer term exposure to the extremes of the range might cause problems. High levels of oxygen are toxic.

QUESTION Did soldiers use shields to protect themselves in World War I?

THe French and Italian armies used shields for their infantry in World War I. Once the war was at stalemate, the British Army used mantlets, or portable walls, to protect soldiers in the trenches.

The French Daigre shield was rectangular with a cut-out in the upper right-hand corner to allow the soldier to use his rifle. It was 23 in high, 14 in wide and weighed 1½ st.

Bound in blue tent canvas, it was made of ¼in-thick steel covered in woodite, a fibrous packing material, to prevent it breaking into bits.

It could be carried on the left arm using straps or worn as body armour with loops around the soldier’s neck.

Tests showed it could stop a German service bullet at close range, but not armour-piercing ammunition. It was heavy and the soldier remained vulnerable to lateral fire. Many of the 65,000 Daigre shields still exist.

The Italians used the Ansaldo shield made of ¼in-thick steel alloy. It weighed 1 ½ st and could be carried, worn as body armour or rested on two special legs to be used as a static shield.

German soldiers were equipped with a small round shield at the onset of the war, but these were cast aside during the rapid march through Belgium.

The use of static shields became widespread as the fighting became bogged down in trench warfare.

As early as 1915, the British Army provided 200,000 shields that had a shutter through which you could peer or shoot. They could stop German ammunition at 50 yards. Heavy and cumbersome, they were disliked by soldiers.

QUESTION Which historical events have been decided by the flip of a coin?

FurTHer to the earlier answer about the naming of Portland, Oregon, another coin flip with a lasting impact surrounds the origin of the epsom Derby.

At a gathering in 1778 at the home of edward stanley, the 12th earl of Derby, it was suggested there should be a sweepstake for three-year-old fillies. It would be called the Oaks stakes after the name of the house. The first winner of the Oaks was Bridget, owned by Lord Derby.

A year later, it was decided to introduce a stakes race for three-year-old colts. sir Charles Bunbury, regarded as the law as far as racing matters were concerned, was at the meeting to discuss this.

racing legend has it that it was decided the race would be named after him or Lord Derby, to be decided by the toss of a gold sovereign. It came down in Lord Derby’s favour. Ironically, the first Derby in 1780 run over a mile (extended to one mile four furlongs in 1783) was won by Diomed, owned by Bunbury.

David Urquhart, Burntisland, Fife.

A COIn toss sealed the fate of ritchie Valens, a rising star of rock’n’roll, on February 3, 1959, known as The Day The Music Died.

Top singer-songwriter Buddy Holly was headlining a tour called the Winter Dance Party. A dozen musicians travelled the u.s. in a ramshackle bus that broke down often during terrible weather.

After playing surf Ballroom, Clear Lake, Iowa, Buddy had had enough of the cramped and freezing conditions on the bus. He chartered a flight from nearby Mason City airport to Fargo, north Dakota, for himself and his band.

There were three passenger seats. The Big Bopper (J. P. richardson) felt he was coming down with the flu, so persuaded band member Waylon Jennings to give up his seat.

session musician guitarist Tommy Allsup had the third place. Teenage heartthrob ritchie Valens pleaded with Tommy to let him have the ticket, so he said: ‘I’ll toss you for it.’

He used a half dollar (50 cents coin) and ritchie correctly called heads. Tommy gave him the plane ticket.

shortly before 1am, the plane took off from the dimly lit runway. It headed north into the darkness before crashing, killing everyone on board.