Cathryn and I live in Arizona, in the Sonoran Desert. just north of the border with Mexico, at an elevation of about 3300 feet. Our most precious resource is water, which will be hard to come by if the grid goes down. We have been working hard to set up a water harvesting system. I have put gutters on the long side of our Spanish tile roof, and plan to put gutters also on the opposite side. We have on order two 625-gallon water storage tanks, for which I am building platforms. I am told that about 10 minutes of one of our monsoon storms will fill this sized tank to the brim.
Here are some interesting facts about water, taken from "When All Hell Breaks Loose" by Cody Lundin.
-Of the 1700 million square miles of water on the earth, all 326 million trillion gallons of it, less than 0.5% is potable.
-98% of the planet's water is ocean.
-2% of earth's water is fresh but locked up in glaciers.
-0.36% of earth's water is found underground.
-0.036% of earth's water is found in lakes and rivers.
-Each day, the sun evaporates 1 trillion tons of water.
-The human brain is 75% water.
-Human blood is 83% water.
-Human bones are 25% water.
-One inch of rain falling on 1 acre of land provides 27,154 gallons of water.
-Groundwater can take a human lifetime to traverse 1 mile.
-Over 90% of the world's fresh water supply is in Antarctica.
-One drip per second from a leaky faucet can waste 2000 gallons of water per year.
-If all plumbing fixtures in the US were replaced with water-conserving fixtures we could save 3 to 8 billion gallons of water per day.
-The average toilet uses 5 to 7 gallons per flush.
-The average bath uses 36 gallons of water; a shower uses 5 gallons per minute.
-An average American residence uses 107,000 gallons of water per year.
-The United States uses about 346,000 billion gallons of freshwater every day in irrigation, industry, fire fighting, and street cleaning.
-Americans use 5 times more water than Europeans.
-2/3 of the water used in an American home is used in the bathroom.
-Less than 1% of the water treated by public water systems is used for drinking and cooking.
-Water expands by about 1/10 of its volume when it freezes.
-Drinking adequate amounts of water can decrease the risk of colon cancer, bladder cancer, and breast cancer.
-Drinking adequate water can significantly reduce joint and back pain.
-Adequate hydration can prevent and alleviate headaches.
-95% of a tomato is water.
-More than 1.1 billion people do not have regular access to clean water.
-1 billion people must walk 3 or more hours to obtain drinking water.
-In Mexico, 15% of the population must haul or carry water.
-Nearly 2% of US homes have no running water.
-More than 2 billion people do not have a safe supply of water.
-At least 400 million people live in regions with severe water shortages.
-There are more than 70,000 known water pollutants.
-Worldwide, water-born diseases cause about 15 million deaths per year.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
"Radiation" from Japan
We hear on the news about the dangers of radioactivity (or "radiation") from the damaged nuclear power plants in Japan. You hear reports about "radiation" detected in the US, and ascribed to the Japanese situation. I find these reports largely un-credible.
Some facts about "nuclear radiation".
1) We must distinguish the radiation from the source of the radiation. The source is an atom the nucleus of which contains either too many neutrons for the number of protons, or too many protons for the number of neutrons. Such nuclei are unstable, and will decay in a measurable, predictable way to produce stable nuclei along with "radiation". It is unstable atoms like these that are found in the reactor fuel, in solid (not gas, not liquid), non-volatile form, atoms of uranium, plutonium, or thorium, and their fission products, such as iodine-131.
2) The radiation produced when an unstable nucleus decays can be one of several types:
a) Neutrons (these usually go right thru you harmlessly). We get hit with a lot of these every day.
b) Alpha particles (these are nuclei of the element helium. They usually have small penetrating power, and as soon as they pick up a couple of electrons they become harmless helium atoms.)
c) Beta particles (these are electrons. They can penetrate further than alpha's, and can produce a little more damage.)
d) Positrons (these are electrons, but with a positive charge. Can cause similar damage to that caused by electrons. Ever heard of positron emission tomography (PET)? This is a medical technique in which you are injected with a source of positrons, which are emitted and produce a 3-D image of tissue, tumor, or something like that, usually in the brain). Of course, positrons are very helpful in this context, but in any other context they are horribly, unspeakably dreadful (please forgive my somewhat cynical sense of humor).
e) Gamma photons (these are very high energy light, and are the most damaging form of nuclear radiation). These can rupture chemical bonds and eject electrons from atoms.
3) When radiation is emitted from a sample containing source atoms, it is emitted IN ALL DIRECTIONS in pretty much a uniform way. So most of the radiation produced by a source outside your body does not come toward you!
4) Unless you have a source present, you cannot have radiation present.
5) We cannot detect "radiation from Japan" here in the US. The radiation itself would have long since been absorbed, scattered, dissipated before it could reach here. To detect radiation from Japan here, we would have to have a source from Japan here. That means we would have to have some of the fuel material or fission products from a Japanese reactor here. If we detect radiation here, how do we know that it's source came from Japan?????(unless, of course the source atom is stamped with "Made in Japan"). How do we know what unstable nuclei are in the source without detailed study??? How can we report this on the news unless we know for sure (unless...hmmm...we want to scare the s--- out of people about nuclear energy; but what responsible journalist would want to do this (whoops--sense of humor again).)
6) We hear a lot about "radioactive water" in Japan. First, all water is to a small extent radioactive, because one of the isotopes of hydrogen is unstable (hydrogen-3, or tritium, is unstable--too many neutrons--and produces radiation. Small amounts of ordinary hydrogen are converted to tritium by water via absorption of neutrons). So, we should all immediately STOP drinking water. It is very bad for us. STOP, STOP, STOP. Drink vodka instead. In Japan, of course, they're talking about "high" radioactivity levels in the water. Is the water the source of the radiation? Almost certainly not. Instead, water used to cool the core dissolves small amounts of the solid core material, or picks up small particles produced in the hydrogen explosions. The radiation is coming from the dissolved or suspended reactor material, NOT from the water itself. So the water is not somehow mysteriously radioactive! It has simply dissolved some source material.
7) Even if this "radioactive water" is dumped into the Pacific Ocean, how long do you think it would take the source atoms to reach the west coast of the US? Don't forget, they have to make their way through, what, 2500 linear miles of Pacific Ocean, and are just as likely to move down, up, or back toward Japan as they are to move toward us. Movement of atoms through liquids is painfully slow (test this by adding a drop of liquid food coloring to a glass of water and then measure the time required for the color to distribute uniformly). Do you think it's reasonable for people in California to claim, 3 or 4 days after the earthquake, that they are detecting "radiation" (meaning source atoms) from Japan? This is the kind of panic reaction that we will see big time as soon as people realize the implications of peak oil, or watch their homes being eaten up by rising sea levels.
Please view news reports about "radiation" from Japan detected in the US with many grains of salt (containing no radioactive iodine!)
Some facts about "nuclear radiation".
1) We must distinguish the radiation from the source of the radiation. The source is an atom the nucleus of which contains either too many neutrons for the number of protons, or too many protons for the number of neutrons. Such nuclei are unstable, and will decay in a measurable, predictable way to produce stable nuclei along with "radiation". It is unstable atoms like these that are found in the reactor fuel, in solid (not gas, not liquid), non-volatile form, atoms of uranium, plutonium, or thorium, and their fission products, such as iodine-131.
2) The radiation produced when an unstable nucleus decays can be one of several types:
a) Neutrons (these usually go right thru you harmlessly). We get hit with a lot of these every day.
b) Alpha particles (these are nuclei of the element helium. They usually have small penetrating power, and as soon as they pick up a couple of electrons they become harmless helium atoms.)
c) Beta particles (these are electrons. They can penetrate further than alpha's, and can produce a little more damage.)
d) Positrons (these are electrons, but with a positive charge. Can cause similar damage to that caused by electrons. Ever heard of positron emission tomography (PET)? This is a medical technique in which you are injected with a source of positrons, which are emitted and produce a 3-D image of tissue, tumor, or something like that, usually in the brain). Of course, positrons are very helpful in this context, but in any other context they are horribly, unspeakably dreadful (please forgive my somewhat cynical sense of humor).
e) Gamma photons (these are very high energy light, and are the most damaging form of nuclear radiation). These can rupture chemical bonds and eject electrons from atoms.
3) When radiation is emitted from a sample containing source atoms, it is emitted IN ALL DIRECTIONS in pretty much a uniform way. So most of the radiation produced by a source outside your body does not come toward you!
4) Unless you have a source present, you cannot have radiation present.
5) We cannot detect "radiation from Japan" here in the US. The radiation itself would have long since been absorbed, scattered, dissipated before it could reach here. To detect radiation from Japan here, we would have to have a source from Japan here. That means we would have to have some of the fuel material or fission products from a Japanese reactor here. If we detect radiation here, how do we know that it's source came from Japan?????(unless, of course the source atom is stamped with "Made in Japan"). How do we know what unstable nuclei are in the source without detailed study??? How can we report this on the news unless we know for sure (unless...hmmm...we want to scare the s--- out of people about nuclear energy; but what responsible journalist would want to do this (whoops--sense of humor again).)
6) We hear a lot about "radioactive water" in Japan. First, all water is to a small extent radioactive, because one of the isotopes of hydrogen is unstable (hydrogen-3, or tritium, is unstable--too many neutrons--and produces radiation. Small amounts of ordinary hydrogen are converted to tritium by water via absorption of neutrons). So, we should all immediately STOP drinking water. It is very bad for us. STOP, STOP, STOP. Drink vodka instead. In Japan, of course, they're talking about "high" radioactivity levels in the water. Is the water the source of the radiation? Almost certainly not. Instead, water used to cool the core dissolves small amounts of the solid core material, or picks up small particles produced in the hydrogen explosions. The radiation is coming from the dissolved or suspended reactor material, NOT from the water itself. So the water is not somehow mysteriously radioactive! It has simply dissolved some source material.
7) Even if this "radioactive water" is dumped into the Pacific Ocean, how long do you think it would take the source atoms to reach the west coast of the US? Don't forget, they have to make their way through, what, 2500 linear miles of Pacific Ocean, and are just as likely to move down, up, or back toward Japan as they are to move toward us. Movement of atoms through liquids is painfully slow (test this by adding a drop of liquid food coloring to a glass of water and then measure the time required for the color to distribute uniformly). Do you think it's reasonable for people in California to claim, 3 or 4 days after the earthquake, that they are detecting "radiation" (meaning source atoms) from Japan? This is the kind of panic reaction that we will see big time as soon as people realize the implications of peak oil, or watch their homes being eaten up by rising sea levels.
Please view news reports about "radiation" from Japan detected in the US with many grains of salt (containing no radioactive iodine!)
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