The serpent’s teeth

I spent a few minutes this morning looking over all of the pictures I took of my walk across the Bay Bridge last fall, all the while thinking of how I might take better and more detailed pictures this fall. This is especially true now that I have more information as to what exactly I am looking at. Imagine going to a museum and looking at a tyrannosaurus rex skeleton but not being able to identify or name individual bones nor understand how they functioned in the living animal. Nor could such an ignorant observer imagine or know how the muscles and tendons would have attached to the bones and moved to support the body. Of course, most anyone who is fascinated with dinosaurs, including young children, can happily appreciate and enjoy the sight of such reconstructed ancient monsters. All can easily be taken in without knowing anything about the biomechanics of large vertebrates.

Now that I know more about various integral parts of metal monsters and their supporting functions, I will be able to take closeup pictures of those structures. This time I’ll know what these parts are and what they do. Well, I’ll be able to see them all except the metal t-rex’s teeth! Imagine Jurassic Park’s main dinosaur star with its jaws covered over…you can see all of the rest of the beast, just not its teeth. I have no doubt they will again hide those toothy expansion joints this fall. Of course, this is but a small setback, as I do have pictures taken by others in the past of the bay serpent’s rows of teeth. My husband said they likely covered them up so no one would trip over the teeth or worse, get a finger stuck in those huge iron jaws. Technically, based upon what I have researched, this sort of expansion joint is referred to as a “finger joint”. I’d imagine that is based upon the shape of each tooth rather than the possibility of someone losing a digit to it. But I prefer the name I have chosen instead (the monster’s teeth). In some ways the joints also remind me of an old steel bear trap, and they could also function in much the same way. Not to catch a bear, but they could catch an overly curious walker or runner…

There is a screen shot I saved from a PBS documentary on the Bay Bridge that was filmed over a decade ago depicting young girl with her tiny hands perilously close to the monster’s teeth. Her mother kneels down beside her as they peer down into the monster’s partially open maw. Opposite of them a man is crouched as he aims his camera down at the interlocking metal teeth. Now, if that child was to place her hands on a model of a t-rex skull, and gaze into its open jaws, she would be in no danger. Dinosaurs (other than modern birds) are long extinct, and can only bite people in books and movies. But the twin serpents of the Chesapeake are living metal monsters, reacting constantly to their environment and the stresses placed upon them. Those steel teeth could still bite someone foolish enough to get too close to touch them.

Speaking of bites, the infamous t-rex is estimated to have had a bite force of anywhere from that of a huge crocodile (close to 2 tons) to that which is off the charts for any modern vertebrate. Some figures I’ve seen put that figure at six tons of force or greater that the Jurassic monster could bring to bear on anything unlucky enough to be within its jaws. I don’t even want to try to imagine what sort of “bite force” the steel serpents could impart upon the finger (or toe, if someone was in sandals or barefoot) of a curious person. My guess is that it would be far, far higher than anything generated by any flesh and blood prehistoric predator. Surely anyone so foolish or unlucky would go thru the rest of their life without whichever body part that the monster seized. But even so, I still wish they would leave those joints (or at least just one of them) uncovered so I could look at it….

However, I think I might have been one of the only people there that day who even noticed or thought about the monster’s teeth being obscured. I didn’t see anyone else who was shooting detailed pictures of the bridge. Most everyone seemed to be more focused on the trip itself and not so much on the immediate scenery. I was hoping to possibly run into someone else who had the same curiosity and fascination for the bridge as do I, although that was not to be. But for everyone else, it seemed the Bay Bridge was a means to an end, not an attraction in its own right. I wonder about those who get to cross the Tampa Bay horror as well. Are any curious, or even aware, of that monster’s black past and fearsome bloody reputation? Or, is it just another means to an end… just another 10K race (or walk) to be completed?