Ask A Scientist General Science Archive

Question:  Hi I'm a Canadian child that is in grade six in Australia.  
I was wondering what you know about Bermuda Triangle.  I'm particularly 
interested in what causes different airplanes and ships to disapear.
 davo

Answer:
The Bermuda Triangle is an area off the coast of Florida where legends
have grown because of some magnetic anomolies is the area.  Like most
legends, the stories about occurances have grown much larger than
life.
While there are probably some unexplained occurances in the area, the
actual number of these occurances that CANNOT be explained are most
likely very few.
Many of the legends came from a time when fear of the unknown was
explained by even more fearsome things like monsters and little
green people from Mars.
I have flown through and around the area several times in a small
airplane, and aside from some interesting and very occasional compass
errors, there have been no "strange" experiences.
The stories are still a great deal of fun, though...
-- dipper