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Heavy Metal is the fourth episode of season one of Life After People: The Series. It originally aired on May 12, 2009.

Synopsis[]

This episode projects how long the nation's buildings and bridges will stand before the elements consume the steel and concrete upon the cities of New York & St. Louis and how once domesticated animals, like horses, will return to wild herds that roam America's grasslands. This episode examine the properties of metal like steel & gold and the fate of the St. Louis Gateway Arch, the skyscrapers of New York City like the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building, to the Brooklyn Bridge, and the gold vault of the Federal Reserve Bank. The episode also examines the ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada, a town where its designers wanted to rival Chicago, which was abandoned by people around 1910.

Plot[]

Prologue[]

In great cites of mankind, each were built on metal, financed on gold, and constructed from steel. While metals were seem well armored in the battle for survival in the absence of man, the show questions what properties that will allow some to crumble and others to survive.

1 Day After People[]

FederalReserveGold

The gold vault of the Federal Reserve Bank.

In Manhattan, The Federal Reserve Bank still guards the vast amount of gold, roughly worth around $200 billion. Steven S. Ross stated that there is more gold in the basement of the Federal Reserve Bank than has been gathered in any other place on Earth and in history. The gold is stored 80 feet below street level, and the vault is protected by a rotating 90-ton steel cylinder, which forms air and watertight seal, surrounded by a 140-ton steel and concrete. Steven S. Ross stated that gold may last forever due to it doesn't corrode, tarnish, or dissolve. When gold is exposed on either air or waiter, the molecules resist disintegration, making gold one of the most non-reactive metals on Earth.

Meanwhile, Times Square is still glittering with lights, but the streets turned into silent. Times Square used to be one of the loudest place in New York City in the time of humans, exposure to sound over 75 decibels was deemed dangerous to human ears, but the ambient noise measured 80 decibels, honking cars measured at 90 decibels, and a siren like an ambulance measured at 120 decibels. But now, only the 50 decibel hum of the air conditioning units sounds the city. Gordon Masterton stated that in many places, the dominant sound would be birdsong.

2 Days After People[]

TimesSquareBlackOut

The illuminated signs of Times Square have plunge into dark.

The power grid of New York City is failing, it has already experienced before in 2003 when the East Coast power outage have plunged the city into darkness for more than 12 hours. The power grid fails, and the glow of hundreds of trademark illuminated signs in Times Square have plunged into darkness.

During the day, Horses are now fending for themselves. They are once carried by police officers or pulled by the Central Park carriages, without people they must adapt a new life.

BreweriesExplosionTemplate

The fermentation at breweries in St. Louis burst.

The America's brewing capital of St. Louis are abandoned, dozen of breweries including branches by Anheuser-Busch creates 3 million kegs worth of beer in the ferment that still continues to flow into several thousand of massive steel vats. Marc Gottfried shows a 30-barrel fermentation tank, which can holds up to 60 kegs of beer, and it was made of yeast, hot particles, protein, and nitrogen. Inside of the tanks, yeast is used to turn sugars into alcohol with carbon dioxide creates increasing pressure in tank. Marc Gottfried stated that when people disappear, the fermentation continue as normal, but without electricity, the tanks begin to rise of temperature. He continues that in a summer alone, St. Louis temperature rise up to 100 degrees. Breweries tends to use Automatic safety release valves which were normally prevent the pressure from getting to high in the tank, but the fermentation also creates krausen, a meringue-like residue that rises to the top of the tank. The rising heat triples the amount of krausen, and causing it to clog the pressure release valve. An example is at 2009 when a fermenting VAT explosion tore a 30-foot hole in the roof of a New Orleans brewery. 36 hours after people, the valve couldn't hold any longer, and the brew burst, spreading the brew across the brewery and unleash their intoxicating contents.

Back in New York City, subways are beginning to flood. Without power, the 700 pumps that once emptied the tunnels that average 13 million gallons of water a day no longer operates, causing the tunnels to flood.

6 Months After People[]

New York City is still completely dark in the night, except for one. Located in Times Square, the Ricoh Billboard was installed in 2009 and it doesn't rely on the municipal power grid. Instead, the 90% of the billboard power is generated by 16 wind turbines and 64 solar panels. The turbine blades can resist the freezing winter and automatically slow down during a hurricane to prevent further damage.

1 Year After People[]

RockefellerCenterPrometheusBroken

The thin gold layer of the bronze Statue of Prometheus breaks down.

At the Rockefeller Center, it is now a gathering place for animals. Frank Lowenstein stated that one of the first changes in New York would be the return of native animals like deer. In the time of humans, the concrete chasm of the plaza was transformed into an artificial rink every winter, but this winter, Mother Nature provides the plaza its own ice. During the spring, the ice rink melts, turning the plaza into a garden. Nearby, the Statue of Prometheus, a god from Greek mythology who is credited on creating mankind is now presiding over nature conquest. Steven S. Ross stated that the gold layer of the statue is very thin, and it only took rain, hail, and dust to scour the statue down into its original material, bronze.

3 Years After People[]

RicohSignBlackOut

The Ricoh Billboard finally goes dark after without people to change the lightbulb.

In the dark of Times Square, the Ricoh Billboard is still shining with light. However, the billboard is finally flickering out, not just the lack of power, but nobody to change the lightbulb of the billboard. The final light in New York City turn dark.

EscapedHorse

The horses of New York City fled to the suburban areas of New York State.

Meanwhile, urban horses from New York City have began to fled the city. Frank Lowenstein stated that horses can escape from predator and it also a good fighter, but the horses requires a large patch of grasses and an open space to run. He continues that the horses will need to find a nearby golf courses and the suburban yards around the state of New York. However, the yards and golf courses will soon turn into forest, which don't provide grassy environments for the horses. The best bet for these horses to survive is to head for the beach, one of the greatest example is the Barrier Islands located on the Atlantic Coast where it proved the ability to sustain herds of wild horses. Another herd of horses made their home on Assateague Island just off the coast of Virginia and Maryland, they were brought there by man just 300 years earlier.

10 Years After People[]

In St. Louis, one of the most unusual steel structures known as the Gateway Arch only has little change after humans last visit its observation deck above the river. Standing at 63 stories, it is the tallest structure in St. Louis, and the architect Eero Saarinen designed the arch to be lasted for 1,000 years. Unlike a skyscraper, the Arch didn't contain a steel skeleton, and its strength is to be designed from double walls of stainless steel filled with pure concrete. Gordon Masterton stated that stainless steel can resist corrosion at the very slow rate. The surface of the stainless steel is covered of chromium oxide that can resist corrosion for decades. Bob Moore stated that the structure won't have water intrusion and no rust forming without water getting inside.

30 Years After People[]

Back in New York City, at the Rockefeller Center, the seams of the buildings is being colonized by nature. Steven S. Ross stated that the seams have been catching seeds and dirt for 30 years and the coating have turned the skyscraper into greenery. The green grid begins to appear and spread out on the buildings.

HighLine

Examples of plant life in New York City can be seen at the High Line.

Plants have already shown in places in New York City in the time of humans. One of the example is the famous High Line, an elevated railroad track that runs for 22 blocks along the west side of Manhattan. Completed in 1934, it allow trains to make import and exports directly inside the warehouses and factories, from the meat packing district to Hell's Kitchen. In 1950s, as more cargo gets transported by truck, the rail traffic decline, and the last trains rumbled along the parts of this line in 1980. Steven S. Ross stated that the High Line is a predominantly steel but nobody walked on it and wildlife conquers it. The High Line is one proof that New York City would be turn green very quickly

35 Years After People[]

GenericFlood

The waves of the Atlantic Ocean continuously flood Westhampton.

In Long Island, the mansion-lined beaches on Westhampton no longer provides a vacation from New York City. The homes were always perched precariously on the sea, and many homes were also built on the barrier islands where it was separated from the mainland. In the time of humans, a series of Atlantic storms breached the barrier island on Westhampton in the 1990s, which destroyed many homes. After the disaster, the US Army Corps of Engineers have rebuilt the barrier island and it is constantly fortified by dredging sand from the sea to build up and reinforce the coastal beachline. Lynn Bocamazo shows the operation on the dredge with the drag head, which vacuums up the sand off the ocean bottom. She explains that the sand slurry is pumped from the dredge onto the beach where it is reshaped by earth moving equipment. Every four years, they pumped up to 1 million cubic yards of sand. But without people, Westhampton have been constantly hit by waves, the mansions and tens of thousands of homes were damaged and the low lying areas of Long Island fell victim by the constant waves of the Atlantic.

50 Years After People[]

DinosaurRipapart

A dinosaur skeleton falls apart from pyrite disease.

In world's natural history museums, dinosaur skeletons remains standing. The metal supports that have provided by the museum have kept them standing for decades, but one condition have left a disease to grow inside of their bones. The Pyrite Disease, named after the mineral pyrite also known as Fool's Gold, which forms during the fossilization process which the bacteria trigger a chemical reaction that replaces soft tissue with hard crystals. Jan A. Zalasiewicz stated that Fool's Gold is one of the common minerals forms around decaying organisms and fossils. Once the fossils are in the right conditions, the pyrite remains stable, but with the presence of humid air, the mineral reacts with oxygen and continues to expand. One example is a Triceratops skeleton that was displayed in the Smithsonian Institution for almost 100 years in 1999 had to be dismantled and conserved thanks to the disease. Without people, the pyrite disease ravages the bones of the dinosaurs, causing the crystal to crack the bones, and the skeletons falls apart.

ChryslerGargoylesBuckle

One of the gargoyles of the Chrysler Building buckles.

In New York City, the Chrysler Building still shimmers its stainless steel crown. The low maintenance steel only had to be cleaned twice in a span of 76 years. On the 61st floor, the eight stainless steel eagle gargoyles is being buffeted by high-level winds. Steven S. Ross stated that the Chrysler Building is exposed to the wind on the east of it and the gargoyles only bolted to the building, which is a super tight connection to the skyscraper. 50 years have let one of the connection of a stainless steel gargoyles corroded, and falls, destroying itself as it take its only flight.

90 Years After People[]

90 years is enough to ravage that were built to last, and it's a future that already happened at Rhyolite, Nevada.

Rhyolite, Nevada[]

Rhyolite

Rhyolite, abandoned in 1910.

Visiting Rhyolite, Nevada, where it lives and died by gold while modern cities are built on steel. Gary Speck and Stein Sture explores and explain the progress of nature in Rhyolite and the history of the place. Rhyolite is founded in 1904 when gold fever struck and the population of the town of just 2 miners jumped to 1,200 in 2 months with some found great success. In the first 3 years, the largest mine produced $1 million in gold and the city founders hoped would rival Chicago, in 1908, 8,000 residents live in the town. Gery Speck explains the Rhyolite Railroad Depot, built in 1908 and the first building people would see when arriving in the town. However, the most valuable ore in the area proved too difficult to extract, and the nationwide financial crisis have dried up the capital needed to sustain the hunt for gold, Rhyolite is abandoned by 1910.

CookBankBuilding

The ruins of the Cook Bank Building.

Rhyolite structures has a unique story like the Cook Bank Building, used to guard over $200,000 of hard-earned wealth. The bank had marble stairs and stained glass windows before it was abandoned. It is one of the earliest multi-story building in the West to be constructed from reinforced concrete, a technique that only been use for 15 years in the United States. While the concrete stood tall against the ravages of time, time is running out. Gary Speck stated that the building is already crumbling to dust and 100 years later would turn into nothing but gravel sand sand. Rhyolite being located in Death Valley, it only averages about 6 inches of rain a year, where wind and sand are the enemy of Rhyolite. The particles generated erodes the surfaces and penetrate into cracks where it den de-laminates the concrete causing layers to separate and structure crumbles. Another cause is man scavenging for wood supports and other useful materials. Stein Sture explains the process being done by the floor joists sawed off and removed from the building and once it was removed, the building surfaces are free to deflect outwards. The disappearance of internal wooden structure has hastened the destruction of the general store. The Bottle House, made from 30,000 empty whiskey bottles, is the only surviving building in Rhyolite, although it has been restored several times including in 1925 for the use in silent film. The glass itself is biologically inactive and does not corrode. The episode ends the visitation stating that after a century without people, all cities around the world will take on the look of the abandoned towns of the west.

100 Years After People[]

Brooklyn-tmh

The roadway of the Brooklyn Bridge collapse.

In New York City, sounds of snapping steel reverberated down into the corroded city, as it came from the suspension bridges which connected Manhattan to Brooklyn and Queens. The Brooklyn Bridge contains by just a thousand vertical suspender cables, each of it are about the thickness of a human wrist. The cables are made up of 7 strands of steel which are twisted around each other of around 100 miles of steel in every cable. These cables are galvanized, which are covered in protective coating of zinc, known to corrodes much slower than the underlying steel. Alan W. Pense showcase the condition of the wires from an existing cable bridge where the paint peels off and rust already into place. He continues that the coating are mostly galvanized and when the galvanize fails, the wire starts to rust and the individual wires will have failures and once enough wires are broken, it will begin to break wires as a cascade. The process have cause the roadway of the Brooklyn Bridge to plunge down into the waters of the East River below.

RooseveltIslandTramwaySnaps

The cable of the Roosevelt Island Tramway snaps and the tram plunge into the East River.

The Roosevelt Island Tramway, which connects Manhattan to Roosevelt Island, holds in a pair of 2 inch diameter wire ropes. The weak point of the cable is the spot where it cross over the steel support towers. Rene B. Testa explains the cable is bent back and forth as the tram across it tending to get fatigue loading in the cables. The cables were shift 100 feet every 5 years to keep any point in contact with the towers for too long to prevent corrosion. While the tram hasn't moved along the cables for 100 years, the cable is being bent have and forth as the tram has been buffet by the wind, causing stress on the wires. The cable snaps, and the tram plunges down 250 feet into the East River.

150 Years After People[]

RockefellerCenter150Years

The transformed plaza of the Rockefeller Center.

At the Rockefeller Center, greenery have taken over the entire plaza. Tree's that once brought in by road to celebrate the holiday season have been grown by nature, and it is now on permanent display.

The skyscrapers of New York have transformed into vertical ecosystems. Frank Lowenstein stated that the bottom of the skyscrapers are beginning to piled up by rubble and soil and the higher floors are getting accumulated by the wind, causing it to be dry where plants are colonizing the exterior of the building. The modern skyscrapers are surprisingly crumbling the fastest due to the new types of steel that was developed in the mid 20th century allowing most of the building's weight to be carried by inner columns. Post-war skyscrapers were built using glass and steel curtain wall technique which give the outer walls just a form of lightweight protection. Steven S. Ross stated that modern skyscrapers are known to leak a lot of water and the the buildings built up through the 1940s would last the longest.

200 Years After People[]

EmpireStateCollapse

The Empire State Building is the first to collapse.

ChryslerCollapse

The Chrysler Building soon follows.

New York silhouette is a throwback to the Great Depression when the modern skyscrapers collapse due to its lightweight protection. In the 1930s, the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building race to be the tallest buildings in the world. The Chrysler Building held the crown for less than a year before being surpassed by the Empire State Building. 200 years without maintenance, the Empire State Building slips from the skyline, the tallest building in New York City collapse. The Chrysler Building is once again the tallest building in New York City, but it's reign won't last long. The columns of the building have been deteriorating, which no longer support the floors. Gordon Masterton stated that when several columns buckles, a single floor collapse and the rest follow, causing a cascading collapse. The Chrysler Building, the first skyscrapers to stand taller than 100 feet, collapse as the floors crumbles from one another triggering a cascading collapse.

250 Years After People[]

GatewayArchCollapseBirdView

The Gateway Arch crumbles after the collapse of its keystone.

In St. Louis, the stainless steel that once protect the Gateway Arch from corrosion have now worn off. Gordon Masterton stated that the final failure suspect on the thinnest point at the center of the arch. The thinnest point are in the 2 sections, called the keystone, a steel triangle measured by 17 feet long and 18 feet high, it is the last pieces to be installed. During the installation of the keystone, the structure was temporary stabilize by truss to keep the 2 legs from critical collapse, and before the piece were lifted into its place, a Roman Catholic priest and a rabbi blessed the keystone on October 28th, 1965. 250 years after people, the high wind and corrosion have caused the keystone to buckle and plummets down from the arch. Bob Moore stated that the two legs would not able to stand and would fall to the ground. With the collapse of the keystone, the rest of the Gateway Arch soon collapse.

1,000 Years After People[]

NewYorkCanyonRuins

The canyon ruins of New York City.

Back in New York City, the skyscrapers have turned into ruins of canyons and the streets of the city have turned into rivers. Frank Lowenstein stated that the hills of the new environment of New York City are the rubble left of the structures.

10,000 Years After People[]

Horse10000

The horses survives and evolves into a shorter stature.

On the new shoreline created by the expanding sea, wildhorses, descendants of the urban equines that once protected and entertained people of New York City, still lives on. Their seaside food supply contain high salt meaning these horses have to drink twice as much water as their domesticated ancestors, and the grasses are so deficient in nutrients have cause the horses to evolved into a shorter stature in response to their poor quality of diet.

FederalReserveUnderwater

Despite being flooded by water, the gold bars at the vault of Federal Reserve Bank still remain preserve.

Buried in the ground, a corroding steel vault still holds tight to its precious contents. The Gold Vault in Federal Reserve Bank, once built 80 feet below street level, are now hundreds of feet below and it is now inundated with water from the rising sea levels. Inside, the largest stockpile of gold ever assembled on Earth still remains well preserved. Jan A. Zalasiewicz stated that the steel vault are much different when it was built underground than the surface, the steel on the surface rust, but for underground, it tends to pit and corrode.

Epilogue[]

While the steel vault will eventually corrode, the gold bars would last not just for thousands, but millions of years. Steven S. Ross speculate that when the future archaeologists find it, they'll think the culture that built a temple and sanctuary. The 24 carat gold will live on as a precious metal. Once mined, molded, and guarded by humans to contain their wealth, these gold were finally returned to mother nature.

Transcript[]

Life After People Wiki has a transcript for this episode. To see it, click here.

Errors[]

  • The VAT explosion that happened in 2009 was not in New Orleans, instead it is located near Abita Springs.[1]
  • The Roosevelt Island Tramway shows incomplete rendering during its fall in the tramcar view and some of the tramcar was cropped during its fall as it was poorly greenscreen. There is also a blur applied at the wrong time in some frames.
  • Despite the gargoyles of the Chrysler Building would fall off in 50 years after people, some, if not most, are seen still intact at the building in 200 years after people, looking up/ahead. Perhaps only one was displayed to fall, and elsewhere the building is angled differently.

Trivia[]

  • Heavy metals is generally a term used to define metals with relatively high densities, atomic weights, or atomic numbers.[2] The metals covered here are comparatively lighter.
  • Heavy Metal reintroduce most of the information from the documentary, notably the New York City blackout, the flooding of subways in the first 36 hours, the collapse of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Empire State Building, and the transformation of New York City, although the former was moved from one to two days after people (note that Times Square is still alight then.)
  • It is the first episode where a producer isn't credited (other than executive producer).

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. NOLA.com | Jeff Adelson | Abita brewery tank explodes | January 14, 2009
  2. wikipedia:Heavy_metals

Navigation[]

LIFE AFTER PEOPLE-titleletters-darker (vde)
Franchise Documentary | The Series | Behind The Scenes | Extinctions | Latinoamerica sin Humanos | Italian Commercial
The Series Season 1 The Bodies Left Behind | Outbreak | The Capital Threat | Heavy Metal | The Invaders | Bound and Buried | Sin City Meltdown | Armed & Defenseless | Roads to Nowhere | Waters of Death
Season 2 Wrath of God | Toxic Revenge | Crypt of Civilization | The Last Supper | Home Wrecked Home | Holiday Hell | Waves of Devastation | Sky's the Limit | Depths of Destruction | Take Me to Your Leader
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