… “And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.” (Rev. 16:21). (Emphasis added).

Commentary:  A talent was the heaviest or largest biblical unit of measurement for weight, equal to about 75 pounds or 43 kilograms. Consider, for a moment, the physics behind a 75lb. frozen rock falling from the sky and hitting the earth. It is a little easier to understand if you start with a human “skydiver” or peregrine falcon. Based on wind resistance, for example, the terminal velocity of a skydiver in a belly-to-earth (i.e., face down) free-fall position is about 195 km/h (122 mph or 54 m/s). Higher speeds can be attained if the skydiver pulls in his or her limbs. In this case, the terminal velocity increases to about 320 km/h (200 mph or 90 m/s), which is almost the terminal velocity of the peregrine falcon diving down on its prey. The same terminal velocity is reached for a typical .30-06 bullet dropping downwards—when it is returning to earth having been fired upwards, or dropped from a tower—according to a 1920 U.S. Army Ordnance study. To put this into perspective, an “average” person falling from “only” 50 meters high and hitting the ground, is the equivalent of getting hit by a car that is going 112 km/h, or 70 miles per hour. The relationship looks like this, in km/h: The higher you are (or an object), the harder you (or an object) land. What about a large, frozen rock … like the weight of 75lb (34kg) hailstone, falling from a variety of distances above the earth?

m/s = meters per second, s = seconds, j = joules

Thus, a 75lb.| 43kg. Hail stone, formed in the atmosphere only eight (8) miles above the earth, would take apx. 50 seconds to fall and reach the earth’s surface, traveling at apx. 500 meters per second. What would the effect be if this hailstone hit a house, car, solar panel, or a person? How about millions or billions of hailstones each weighing about 75lb. or 34kg, traveling at 500 meters/second?  Rev. 16:21 indicates that the plague of hail “was exceeding great.” Consider the destruction and lethalness of only baseball sized (or even golf ball sized) hailstones. Either one of these size stones, hitting you in the head, would likely kill you. 75lb. hailstones would knock out HVAC systems on top of high rise buildings, electrical transformers, solar power arrays, solar battery collectors, cell phone towers, microwave towers, radar arrays, above ground telecommunications equipment and antennae, portable generators, large vehicles like firefighting trucks, ambulances, guidance systems on aircraft, the list could go on and on. 75lb. frozen rocks, traveling 500 meters per second, could just about destroy anything above ground that is not double or triple reinforced. What would a 75lb. hailstone to do a solar panel array? What would happen to an entire city that was totally dependent on solar power collected from solar arrays? The picture above is of an eight (8) inch hail stone. The damage on the solar array panel above is from ‘normal’ size hail stones. Based on the proof shone above, it is logical to understand that a 75lb hail stone would completely obliterate not only solar panel arrays, but also the metal structures holding or supporting the arrays and collection points. Yes, it does snow in Saudi Arabia, and in the mountains and deserts. If it can snow, it can hail. Hail of Biblical portions (Rev. 16:21) in a Biblical land.