Danger in the Grain Elevator_Lowerlevel_01
The heat is harsh on these long summer days. All you can think about is getting cooled off as you sip your sweetened tea. Today, you helped your parents harvest wheat. The fields look different from how they did last week. The fields looked lush, blowing in the wind. The wheat had grown almost as tall as you! Now the harvested fields look more like a desert.
Farmers work to unload the wheat harvest off the wheat trucks. Cut wheat is kept in large silos on the farm. The wheat will stay in storage until it is sold. Once sold, the wheat will be turned into many tasty types of food. Then, it will be sold in stores. People buy the wheat products made from the grain.
Before it is bought, the wheat grain will be kept in tall buildings called silos or grain elevators. Any farm that grows grain has silos. Different types of grain grow in different climates. In northeast states, most silos contain corn. Further west, silos may contain wheat. In southern states, they may hold rice.
Silos can be very dangerous places.You are suddenly scared by the sound of a large explosion. You see large flames in the distance. A silo is on fire! What happened? It all has to do with surface area.