science

Wolfram Crisis

Wolfram Crisis is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Wolfram Crisis rather than just read about it. In short: The Wolfram Crisis (Spanish: Crisis del wolframio) was a diplomatic conflict during World War II between Francoist Spain and the Allied powers, which sought to block Spanish exports of tungsten ore to Nazi Germany. "Wolfram" is an alternate name for tungsten, a strategic material used in anti-tank weapons and machine tools. Most of the wolframite mines in Europe, such as the Barruecopardo mine, are in northwestern S…

Key takeaways

Wolfram Crisis belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Wolfram Crisis to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Wolfram Crisis from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Wolfram Crisis (Spanish: Crisis del wolframio) was a diplomatic conflict during World War II between Francoist Spain and the Allied powers, which sought to block Spanish exports of tungsten ore to Nazi Germany. "Wolfram" is an alternate name for tungsten, a strategic material used in anti-tank weapons and machine tools. Most of the wolframite mines in Europe, such as the Barruecopardo mine, are in northwestern Spain and northern Portugal. The Barruecopardo mine, located in Salamanca, was a key source of tungsten during the war.

Background

While the Allies pressured General Franco to publicly announce the withdrawal of the Blue Division after abandoning "non-belligerence," the Laurel incident severely strained relations between the Franco regime and the Allies, particularly the United States. On October 18, 1943, Foreign Minister Francisco Gómez-Jordana sent a congratulatory telegram to José P. Laurel, who had been appointed by the Japanese—occupying the archipelago since June 1942 after defeating the Americans—as president of a puppet government in the Philippines. Franco’s message, along with a similar one from Hitler, was celebrated by Japanese propaganda and widely broadcast by Radio Tokyo. The Allies immediately protested what they considered Franco’s de facto recognition of the Laurel regime. Part of the American press called for harsh measures against the Franco regime, and on November 6, the new U.S. Undersecretary of State Edward Stettinius Jr. ordered the U.S. Ambassador in Madrid, Carlton Hayes, to demand that the Spanish government impose a total embargo on tungsten exports to Germany and expel German agents in Tangier, occupied by Spain on June 14, 1940.

Development

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Wolfram Crisis

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Wolfram Crisis claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Wolfram Crisis before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Wolfram Crisis ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Wolfram Crisis

In research: Wolfram Crisis appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Wolfram Crisis in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Wolfram Crisis is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1944 in Spain, 1944 in international relations, 1944 in the United States, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Wolfram Crisis outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Wolfram Crisis in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Wolfram Crisis means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Wolfram Crisis out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Wolfram Crisis in simple terms?

Why does Wolfram Crisis matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Wolfram Crisis?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Wolfram Crisis.