Showing posts with label water. Show all posts
Showing posts with label water. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Lemming Tracks: Bird Poop, Animal Carcasses, and Dumping 8,000,000 Gallons of Drinking Water

Most folks in America probably realize that it's a bad idea to drink water that's had an animal carcass, or bird poop, in it recently.1 Also that whizzing in the well isn't likely to win you any friends.

Not all countries are the same, as the Lemming's pointed out now and then. Which isn't the same as buying into 19th-century social Darwinism, in the Lemming's opinion. "Different" doesn't necessarily mean "better." "Healthier," maybe.

Water Supplies: Safe and Otherwise

Take these statistics about how many folks in three countries have drinking water that's "improved." "Improved" in this case means folks getting their drinking water from the sort of filtration system, pipes, and water tower that Sauk Centre, Minnesota has, or at least a well that's sort of protected.

"Unimproved" in this list means folks who have to drink out of something like what you find behind dams, or in lakes, ponds, streams, canals or irrigation channels. Or, for those who can afford it, bottled water. Which may or may not have come out of that pond behind the store.
  • United States
    • Improved:
      • Urban: 100% of population
      • rural: 94% of population
      • Total: 99% of population
    • Unimproved:
      • Urban: 0% of population
      • Rural: 6% of population
      • Total: 1% of population (2008)2
  • India
    • Improved:
      • Urban: 96% of population
      • Rural: 84% of population
      • Total: 88% of population
    • Unimproved:
      • Urban: 4% of population
      • Rural: 16% of population
      • Total: 12% of population (2008)2
  • Haiti
    • Improved:
      • Urban: 71% of population
      • Rural: 55% of population
      • Total: 63% of population
    • Unimproved:
      • Urban: 29% of population
      • Rural: 45% of population
      • Total: 37% of population (2008)2
If you're expecting the Lemming to rant about how one party is absolutely vile for making Americans drink tainted water, and this would never happen if another party was in office - you haven't been reading this blog very often.

Apathetic Lemming of the North isn't a political blog. (Curious about what the Lemming is? Read "About the Lemming." Or, not: your choice.)

The Lemming's none too happy about folks living in places like in Haiti making do with none-too-adequate conditions - and that's another topic, mostly for another blog:

Animal Carcasses and Bird Poop in the Drinking Water? Sure: Why Not?

You'll notice that in those three countries, folks living in cities have better odds of having "improved" drinking water. The Lemming figures that's at least partly because it's easier to build water towers and run pipes to where folks live - if you've got a lot of folks living close to each other. In rural areas, where one family may have to travel a mile or so to their nearest neighbor - not so much.

Even living in a city with plumbing in most buildings doesn't guarantee safe water.

Take this one city, for example: They've got plumbing, and even run water for some sort of processing facility before pouring it into a reservoir. An open reservoir, where the water collects bird poop and the occasional animal carcass before being pumped into the city's water mains.

The locals don't seem to mind: like the Lemming said, not all countries are the same. Folks in different parts of the world have different values - you've heard that all before.

Then, somebody noticed one (1) man urinating in the reservoir. One (1) time. Gross, yes: but the Lemming might assume that since the locals normally drink a dilute solution of animal carcasses and bird poop, one dude taking a whiz in the water shouldn't make much difference.

The Lemming would have been wrong.

The city's leaders decided to empty the reservoir. All 8,000,000 gallons of it. That's a whole lot of drinking water. "Safe" drinking water, too.

Remember - the locals figure that a little bird poop and the occasional animal carcass in their drinking water is okay.

Here's the punch line: the city's Portland, Oregon.

The Lemming is Not Making This Up

"Man caught relieving, lake emptied"
The Times of India - UK (June 21, 2011)

"A lake in the US state of Oregon was emptied after a man was caught on a security camera urinating in it....

"...Health experts said the incident would not have caused any harm to people, who are supplied drinking water from the reservoir, since the urine would have vastly diluted.

"But David Shaff, an administrator at the Portland Water Bureau, defended the decision to empty the lake, which is said to cost the taxpayers $36,000, saying: 'It's not an over reaction. What you have to deal with here is the "yuck" factor. Imagine how many people would be saying "I made orange juice with that water this morning".'..."
"Man caught urinating in reservoir, US city flushes 8 million gallons of water"
NDTV.com (June 21, 2011)

"Call it the big flush. Because a 21-year-old man was caught on a security camera urinating into a city reservoir, Oregon's biggest city is sending 8 million gallons of treated drinking water down the drain.

"Portland officials defended the decision yesterday, saying they didn't want to send city residents water laced, however infinitesimally, with urine.

"Public health officials say, however, that urine is sterile in healthy people and that the urine in the reservoir was so diluted perhaps a half pint in millions of gallons that it posed little risk.

"Some people in the city, in the suburbs and around the world called the flush an overreaction, especially since animals such as ducks contribute waste routinely and, sometimes, die in the water....

"...City Commissioner Randy Leonard, who is in charge of the water bureau, defended the decision, citing a potential public health risk. He said he worried about the possibility of chlamydia or AIDS from blood in urine....

"...The young man, Josh Seater, told KATU-TV he'd been drinking, was with friends and thought that the reservoir was a sewage treatment plant. He said he felt guilty instantly, and then security guards arrived.

"Besides the sewage charge, Shaff said, the flushed water is worth US $28,000."
" 'Yuck' factor??"

Okay - the Lemming will skip over the horror of it all, and what a shame it is that this perfectly-good drinking water was dumped when millions are in need. It's not likely that the 8,000,000 gallons would have been shipped to Haiti, or India, or anywhere else - and there's still the little matter of bird poop and animal carcases.

And this is part of that 100% "improved" drinking water in the United States?! Well, Portland's just one city.

NDTV said the sewage charge was $8,000: bringing the total cost of dumping that 'safe' drinking water to $28,000+8,000 = $36,000.

Offhand, the Lemming suspects that the city of Portland can afford that.

As for being afraid that the young man might have chlamydia or AIDS? News that the Lemming's read hasn't said anything about Mr. Seater being tested for blood in his urine - or having those, or any other diseases. If that's a real concern, that sort of testing shouldn't be too great a strain on the resources of Portland, Oregon.

On the other hand, the Lemming's noticed that quite a few folks in America have odd ideas about what they call "privacy." And that's another topic.

How Many Pints in 8,000,000 Gallons?

The "pints" and "gallons" cited in the news are almost certainly the sort we've got in America - so the ratio of pints to gallons is 8 to 1.

The NDTV article said there was "perhaps a half pint" of urine involved. Just to make things come out more even, let's say it was 8/10 of a pint, or 0.8 pints. in 8,000,000 gallons of water. That's -

0.8
8,000,000

Or

0.1
1,000,000

Or

1
10,000,000

That urine was diluted by a factor of 1 part per 10,000,000. Probably less.

Still, there's the " 'Yuck' factor."

And folks who are scared silly of particular diseases.

And odd notions of "privacy."

Somewhat-related posts:
In the news:
Background:
  • 1 Carcasses, poop, and drinking water
  • 2 Nations
    • "Haiti"
      CIA World Factbook (page last updated June 14, 2011)
    • "India"
      CIA World Factbook (page last updated on June 14, 2011)
    • "United States"
      CIA World Factbook (page last updated June 14, 2011)
  • Definitions of
    • Improved drinking water = any of the following
      • Piped water into dwelling, yard, or plot
      • Public tap or standpipe
      • Tubewell or borehole
      • Protected dug well
      • Protected spring
      • Rainwater collection
    • Unimproved drinking water = any of the following
      • Unprotected dug well
      • Unprotected spring
      • Cart with small tank or drum
      • Tanker truck
      • Surface water, which includes
        • Rivers
        • Dams
        • Lakes
        • Ponds
        • Streams
        • Canals
        • Irrigation channels
        • Bottled water
    • Drinking Water, in Definitions and Notes, CIA World Factbook
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Friday, June 3, 2011

Mexico's Crystal Cave and Astrobiologist Boston

"Pictures: Return to the Crystal Caves"
Crystal Underworld, National Geographic (October 8, 2010)

"Encased in ice-cooled orange suits, scientists explore the Cave of Crystals, discovered a thousand feet (304 meters) below Naica (map), Mexico, in 2000...."


(Oscar Necoechea, Speleoresearch & Films/NGT, via National Geographic, used w/o permission)
Cave of Crystals under Naica, Mexico.

The article this photo page identifies those improbable-looking things as gypsum crystals. Among the largest in the world. Largest known, anyway.

Despite looking like ice crystals, the cave is hot - folks exploring it need refrigerated suits: ice packs and respirators keep the spelunkers and the air they breathe (comparatively) cool.

The photo looked a little familiar - the Lemming checked, and sure enough, there's a post in this blog with another picture of the same cave. (August 2, 2008)

The National Geographic article that's linked to the one with eleven photos of the Crystal Caves (including a full-size version of the one in this post) says that there's life down there:

"...Though the calling card of the horseshoe-shaped Cave of Crystals may be its massive mineral formations, some of its biggest surprises are literally microscopic.

"In 2008 a team of scientists, including New Mexico Tech's [astrobiologist and cave scientist Penelope ] Boston, investigated the cave and found microbial life living in tiny air pockets in the crystals.

"In December 2009 Boston returned to the cave with another team. From pools of water that hadn't been present during her first trip, the scientists collected bacteria as well as viruses that prey on the bacteria—something that was suspected but had not been confirmed on the first expedition...."
(National Geographic)

"Astrobiologist?!" Isn't that science-fiction stuff: "Beam me up Scotty" and all that? Not so much. And that's another topic.

Somewhat-related posts:
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Saturday, May 21, 2011

Fukushima Worker's Death, News, and the Lemming's Thoughts

'Mysterious Death At Atomic Power Plant!!!'

Actually, not all that mysterious. In the Lemming's opinion.

Someone working at the Fukushima nuclear power plant died, abruptly, while on the job. He seems to have had a heart attack.

Hats off to news services - the ones the Lemming's read, anyway - for not playing up the 'drama' in this story:

"Japanese Worker's Death Not Linked to Radiation"
Martin Fackler, Asia & Pacific, The New York Times (May 14, 2011)

"A worker at Japan's crippled nuclear plant died Saturday of causes that appeared to be unrelated to radiation, the plant's operator said.

"The operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, said the contract worker, who was in his 60s, died after carrying heavy equipment in a waste disposal building of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The company said that he was wearing radiation-protection clothing and a mask when he collapsed, and that his body did not show high levels of radioactive contamination.

"Japanese news media reports later quoted a doctor at the plant as saying the man had apparently suffered a heart attack. The death is the first by one of the workers struggling to bring the Fukushima Daiichi plant under control since it lost power and cooling functions after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami...."

If you think this wasn't the first death at the Fukushima power plant, by the way: you're right. Two workers died during the disaster. Looks like they got in the way of the tsunami that started the trouble with the reactors' cooling systems.

Millisieverts, Detail, and Common Sense

"Worker at Fukushima nuclear plant dies"
The Japan Times (May 14, 2011)

"A worker at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant died Saturday after collapsing while carrying equipment at a waste disposal building, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.

"The cause of death wasn't immediately known, but Tepco said no radioactive substances were detected on his body....

"...The death is the third at the plant since the crisis began. The bodies of two workers who disappeared March 11 were found floating in the basement of reactor 4 later that month, having died from injuries sustained on the day of the disaster.

"The man had started working at the plant Friday and was wearing protective gear, including a full face mask, at the time of his collapse, Tepco said.

"He was exposed to radiation totaling 0.17 millisievert - a level considered to have little effect on health - while no radioactive substances were detected on his body, the utility said...."

The Lemming's gone on - and on - about millisieverts and background radiation before. Bottom line, it looks like folks working at the TEPCO plant - the part where this man died, anyway - were taking reasonable precautions.

The Lemming's a bit surprised at two things in news from Japan's Fukushima power plant:
  • Reporting that's
    • Comparatively calm
    • Occasionally informative
  • A remarkable lack of immediate health problems
Under the circumstances, that last is really remarkable. In the Lemming's opinion.

Over the next years - decades - will we be reading about what 'really' is happening to folks living in that part of northeastern Japan? Likely enough. Some of it may be true; some may be true, but edited to enhance drama; some may have more to do with technophobia than the Fukushima reactors.

And that's another topic.

Somewhat-related posts:
In the news:More:
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Friday, May 6, 2011

Lemming Tracks: Haiti, Cholera, and an Oopsie

So far, cholera has killed upwards of 4,000 folks in Haiti.

The United Nations sponsored a study, to find out how the disease got started in the island nation.

Turns out, U.N. peacekeepers started the plague - but it's not their fault.

This almost makes sense, and the Lemming will be back after this excerpt:

"U.N.-Sponsored Report on Haiti's Cholera Outbreak Points to U.N. Itself as Culprit"
George Russell, FoxNews.com (May 5, 2011)

"A United Nations-sponsored report into the causes of a deadly cholera outbreak that ravaged Haiti in the wake of its disastrous 2010 earthquake has discovered a culprit -- the U.N. itself.

"The 32-page report, prepared by an independent panel of medical experts at the behest of U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, clearly states that the source of the epidemic was most likely a camp for U.N. peacekeepers in Haiti, whose human waste was dumped by independent contractors into an unsecured pit that was susceptible to flooding in heavy rainfall.

"That conclusion, the report notes, mirrors 'a commonly held belief in Haiti' virtually from the moment the outbreak began.

"But the report buries that central finding under a welter of circumstances that caused investigators to conclude that the outbreak, which is ongoing, 'was not the fault of, or deliberate action of, a group or individual.'..."

Before anything else: the important point, in the Lemming's opinion, is that folks are still getting cholera in Haiti.

No pressure, but it's also the Lemming's opinion that Haitians could use some help. There's a none-too-well-updated list of charities in January, 2010, post. Some of the links should still be valid, though - particularly for the higher-profile charities.

Just a thought.

'It's Not Our Fault,' or 'Accidents Happen'

Now, about the assertion that starting a plague in Haiti "was not the fault of, or deliberate action of, a group or individual."

So much depends on what the word "fault" is supposed to mean. Let's look at a dictionary:
  • Fault (noun)
    1. A wrong action attributable to bad judgment or ignorance or inattention
    2. An imperfection in an object or machine
    3. The quality of being inadequate or falling short of perfection
    4. A crack in the earth's crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other
    5. Equipment failure attributable to some defect in a circuit
    6. Responsibility for a bad situation or event
    7. In sports, a serve that is illegal
  • Fault (verb)
    1. Put or pin the blame on
    (Princeton's WordNet)
It seems to the Lemming that there's "fault" involved, in the sense of the bad judgment or ignorance or inattention that resulted in human waste being dumped into Haiti's water (noun, #1). But maybe, legally, the contractor who did the dumping isn't responsible (noun, #6). As for fault as a verb - like the Lemming said, maybe it's not illegal to poison the water in Haiti.

It's also possible that the contractor didn't know that it's a bad idea to dump human waste where it can get into streams and rivers. Particularly where floods are likely.

Possible - but the Lemming has no idea how likely it is that the folks involved knew what they were doing.

Bottom Line: People Died

"...As the report also notes, military contingents from Bangladesh and Nepal were among members of the United Nations Stabilization Force in Haiti (known by its French-language acronym of MINUSTAH) stationed at U.N. peacekeeping camp Mirebalais, close to the initial outbreak. An additional contingent of 60 Bangladesh police officers was also stationed at Mirebalais between September and October 2010.

"None of the U.N. personnel were recorded as cholera cases, but the bacteria, which is usually spread through water, can exist in small numbers in the human digestive tract until it hits a rapid-breeding environment.

"According to the report, the MINUSTAH camp at Mirebalais was just such an environment. Water piping around the main toilet and showering area of the camp was 'haphazard,' with 'significant potential for cross-contamination through leakage from broken pipes and poor pipe connections.' Some of the pipes ran over a drainage ditch that fed into a tributary of the Artibonite River, Haiti's largest, which subsequently became the main artery of the water-borne epidemic.

"In addition, sewage from the camp, along with two other MINUSTAH facilities, was trucked by a contractor to an open and unfenced septic pit, in an area that was susceptible to flooding and overflow in wet weather that enters the same river tributary system...."
(FoxNews.com)

Maybe there was no other possible way to get rid of the tainted water. Maybe it was impossible to set up adequate waste collection and disposal.

The report isn't particularly light reading, but the Lemming's seen worse:
The report gives what seem to be common-sense recommendations for preventing another debacle like this. Maybe the United Nations will implement them.

Then again, maybe not.

Implementing the report's recommendations, from training health workers to investing in "piped, treated drinking water supplies and improved sanitation in Haiti," and using vaccines (Final Report) - all cost money. Besides, 'we've never done that before' seems to be a fairly common response to new ideas.

Still, if the United Nations and related outfits don't get their act together - the next time they try to help, more people will almost certainly die.

Back to that article - for the last time in this post.

Oops

"...The cholera epidemic, which is still ongoing, has killed some 4,500 Haitians through severe diarrhea and dehydration since its outbreak in October 2010. There had been no previous cholera outbreak in Haiti for nearly a century. The report confirms that the specific cholera bacteria involved in the Haitian epidemic are a variant first detected in Bangladesh in 2002, which is even more toxic than other cholera strains found in South Asia...."
(FoxNews.com)

Almost a century and no cholera outbreak in Haiti. That's a pretty good record. Particularly considering the island nation's economic status. Not that being wealthy is a guarantee against health problems and daft management. And that's almost another topic.

The Lemming has opined before, about blaming the victim, the United Nations, and whether there are too many Africans:
About Haiti and cholera, the Lemming hopes that folks trying to help Haitians will be much more careful - so that their assistance won't be quite so lethal.
More:
The Lemming's take on Haiti, Voodoo, charity, and common sense:
More:
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Friday, April 8, 2011

High-Tech Steam Gun to Mars: No Kidding

"Water-Powered Spaceship Could Make Mars Trip on the Cheap"
Mike Wall, Space. com (March 25, 2011)

"Spaceships powered primarily by water could open up the solar system to exploration, making flights to Mars and other far-flung locales far cheaper, a recent study has found.

"A journey to Mars and back in a water-fueled vehicle could cost as little as one space shuttle launch costs today, researchers said. And the idea is to keep these 'space coaches' in orbit between trips, so their relative value would grow over time, as the vehicles reduce the need for expensive one-off missions that launch from Earth.

"The water-powered space coach is just a concept at the moment, but it could become a reality soon enough, researchers said....

"...The space coach concept vehicle is water-driven and water-centric, starting with its solar-powered electrothermal engines. These engines would super-heat water, and the resulting steam would then be vented out of a nozzle, producing the necessary amount of thrust.

"Electrothermal engines are very efficient, and they're well-suited for sustained, low-thrust travel, researchers said. This mode of propulsion would do the lion's share of the work, pushing the space coach from Earth orbit to Mars...."

The study's lead author is Brian McConnell, "a software engineer and technology entrepreneur," as the article puts it. Which doesn't mean he knows his physics.

Or that he doesn't.

The idea of using water as reaction mass is old - the stuff's common as, well, as water; is so dense that a lot of mass can be packed into a relatively small tank; and can be stored with fairly common materials.

One reason that we don't have spaceships with water-driven rocket engines is that water also needs a whole lot of energy to heat. Which gets the Lemming into ideas like specific heat, magnetohydrodynamics, and - those are other topics.

Related posts:
More, in this blog:
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Monday, April 4, 2011

Lemming Tracks: Plutonium Perils, Poisoning the Pacific, and Getting a Grip

Reuters did not say that Japan was poisoning the Pacific. The Lemming suspects that the venerable news service's editors are savvy enough to realize that folks won't buy that.

Actually, the headline is fairly dry:
Still: 11,500 metric tons of radioactive water?!!! Oh, the horror! The horror!

Or, not. The Lemming will be back, after the conventional headline-and-excerpt:

"Japan to dump 11,500 metric tons of radioactive water"
Sylvia Westall and Fredrik Dahl, Editing by David Stamp, Edition: U.S., Reuters (April 4, 2011)

"...Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) was forced on Monday to release low-level radioactive seawater that had been used to cool overheated fuel rods after it ran out of storage capacity for more highly contaminated water.

"TEPCO said it would release more than 10,000 tonnes of water about 100 times more radioactive than legal limits in order to free storage capacity for more highly contaminated water.

" [Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency deputy director general Koichiro] Nakamura, citing information from the company, said the 10,000 tonnes needed to be dumped into the ocean to make storage space for higher-radioactive water now in reactor unit 2.

"Another 1,500 tonnes was accumulated ground water in a drain pit of units 5 and 6....

"...Jukka Laaksonen, chairman of the Western European Nuclear Regulators' Association and head of Finland's nuclear safety body, said normal sea water also contained radioactivity.

" 'In a few cubic kilometres of sea water you have much more radioactivity than what is being dumped from this accident,' he told the same news conference. 'It will not raise the total radioactivity of the sea water.'..."

TEPCO and all don't seem to have been entirely open about just what's been going on at the Fukishima power plant. (April 2, 2011)

Still, the Lemming is 'apathetic.' It's possible that dumping 11,500 metric tons of radioactive water wouldn't really make that big a splash in the Pacific Ocean. Even though the Fukushima plant used plutonium. (March 25, 2011)

TEPCO, Radioactive Water, and Lots of Zeroes

11,500 metric tons of water is a lot of water. But the Pacific is a pretty big ocean.

After a little research, and a figuring, the Lemming came up with a few numbers.1

11,500 metric tons of water, radioactive or not, would fill 11,500,000 one-liter water bottles. That's a lot of water. Even if you think of it as 1,916 one-liter six-packs, plus four bottles.

There was a major labor strike in 1916, in Minnesota's Iron Range, and that's another topic.

Where was the Lemming? Water. Bottled water. Lots of bottled water. Fukushima nuclear power plant and the Pacific Ocean. Right.

In terms of volume, 1000 liters of (fresh) water fills One cubic meter. One cubic meter of fresh water weighs one metric ton.

There are 1,000,000,000 cubic meters in one cubic kilometers.

How Many Metric Tons of Water in the Pacific?

The Pacific Ocean's water has a volume of about 645,000,000 cubic kilometers.

So the Pacific Ocean would weigh about 645,000,000,000,000,000 metric tons. If it were fresh water. It's salt water, so it'd weigh about 1.025 times more - but let's say it's 645,000,000,000,000,000 metric tons.

We're looking at putting 11,500 metric tons of radioactive water in 645,000,000,000,000,000-plus metric tons of water that's already slightly radioactive - like everything else on this planet has been for a few billion years.

The Lemming's no expert, but 11,500 of something mixed in with 645,000,000,000,000,000-plus of the same sort of thing - is a pretty thin mix. Very roughly 1.15 parts per 64,500,000,000,000.

The Lemming wouldn't want to eat fish that were caught near the dump site, not for a few months, anyway. But it doesn't look like we're looking at a catastrophic crisis causing calamitous consequences, either.

Even if, a few weeks or months from now, someone detects trace amounts of that water off Marina Del Rey.

Although if that happens, we might get a movie about mutant fish attacking Venice Beach. And that's almost another topic.

Related posts:
More:
In the news:
1 Let's look at how much the Pacific Ocean weighs. Roughly.

"...1 liter of water weighs 1 kilogram, so 1 cubic meter — 1000 liters — of water weighs 1000 kilograms or 1 metric ton...."
("Commonly used metric system units, symbols, and prefixes," U.S. Metric Association (USMA), Inc., via USMA Webmaster, Web hosting courtesy of Colorado State University)

Volume of the Pacific Ocean: 645,369,567 cubic kilometers ("Ocean: an illustrated atlas," Sylvia A. Earle, Linda K. Glover, National Geographic Society (U.S.), via Google Books (2008)) The Lemming will round that down to 645,000,000 cubic kilometers.

There are 1,000 meters in a kilometer, which makes a cubic kilometer 1,000 x 1,000 x 1,000 = 1,000,000,000 cubic meters.

So a cubic kilometer is 1,000,000,000 cubic meters. If you had a cubic kilometer of fresh water, you'd have 1,000,000,000 metric tons of water. Sea water's density isn't quite the same: 1.025 to fresh water's 1.000. That's at the ocean's surface. On average.

A cubic kilometer of sea water - the kind at the ocean's surface - on average - would weigh 1,025,000,000 metric tons. Multiplying that by the rounded-down volume of the Pacific Ocean, 645,000,000 cubic kilometers, the Lemming got - a bit of a headache. Let's try that again, except with 645,000,000 times 1,000,000,000 - the weight in metric tons of a cubic kilometer of fresh water.

If the Lemming remembers high school math right, that's 645,000,000,000,000,000 metric tons of water in the Pacific. Assuming that it's all fresh water. The actual weight is a bit more, since it's salt water - and the Lemming has been rounding down.
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Friday, March 25, 2011

Fukushima Daiichi Plant, Water, and a 'Bad Sunburn'

It's been a while since the Lemming re-posted Google's resource for folks looking for family and friends in Japan, following the March 11, 2011, earthquake:

A 'people finder' for Japan, in Japanese, English, Korean, Chinese (simplified), and Chinese (traditional):
Now, about what's happening today:

"Japan reactor core may be leaking radioactive material, official says"
CNN (March 25, 2011)

Military officers on Friday hold a blue sheet over people exposed to high levels of radiation at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant. AFP/Getty Images, via CNN, used w/o permission"Authorities in Japan raised the prospect Friday of a likely breach in the all-important containment vessel of the No. 3 reactor at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, a potentially ominous development in the race to prevent a large-scale release of radiation.

"Contaminated water likely seeped through the containment vessel protecting the reactor's core, said Hidehiko Nishiyama of the Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

"Three men working near the No. 3 reactor Thursday stepped into water that had 10,000 times the amount of radiation typical for a nuclear plant, Nishiyama said. An analysis of the contamination suggests 'some sort of leakage' from the reactor core, signaling a possible break of the containment vessel that houses the core, he said.

The three men have been hospitalized - but their burns may not be the sort of '50s horror show thing we see in the movies. The Lemming will get back to that.

The reactor core may have sprung a leak, as the article says: or the 10,000-times-over-normal radiation level in that water may have something to do with the tons of water that have been poured over the plant, cooling the reactors down. Water is a pretty good solvent - and that's another topic.

"Radiation Burn:" Serious, But Not Like the Movies

Movies can be good entertainment, but they aren't, in the Lemming's opinion, all that reliable as science teachers. A person can learn quite a bit about science fiction from Hollywood, Bollywood, and all: and that's another topic. (Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space, "Science Fiction in the Movies: 'The Satan Bug' to 'The Matrix' " (January 26, 2010))

That's a photo of a radiation burn. It's what the top of my head looked like on July 23, 2007, after I'd neglected to wear a cap. "Radiation burn?!" That's just an ordinary sunburn. Right on both counts.

Back to the CNN article:

"...Nuclear power experts cautioned against reading too much into the newest development, saying the burns suffered by the workers may not amount to much more than a sunburn."

"Moreover, evidence of radioactivity in the water around the plant is not necessarily surprising given the amount of water sprayed onto and pumped into the reactors, said Ian Hutchinson, professor of nuclear science and engineering at the Massachusetts institute of Technology.

" 'I am not particularly alarmed,' he said...."
(CNN)

Which reminds the Lemming of what someone said, decades back, after hazardous materials were found in a neighborhood. 'They say it's safe: so how come they always show up in moon suits?'

Moving on.

The reactor that may - or may not - be leaking 'hot' water is the same one that made white smoke on March 16, and encouraged a serious evacuation of the folks trying to fix problems at the plant.

"...That reactor is of particular concern, experts have said, because it is the only one at the plant to use a combination of uranium and plutonium fuel, called MOX, that is considered to be more dangerous than the pure uranium fuel used in other reactors...."

"...The hospitalized employees were working to reconnect power to the No. 3 reactor building when they encountered water that was about 5 inches (15 centimeters) deep. Water rushed over the boots of two workers, who received what is called a "beta burn." The third worker had taller boots but was hospitalized as a precaution, according to Nishiyama.

"The men were exposed to the water for 40 to 50 minutes, said Tokyo Electric Power Co., which owns the plant...."
(CNN)

Two of the three workers have the highest level of radiation exposure so far at Fukushima: the one in his 30s, 180.7 millisieverts; the one in his 20s, 179.37 millisieverts. ("milisieverts?" see (March 18, 2011))

"...[Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency's Hidehiko ] Nishiyama said the third man -- who was exposed to 173 millisieverts but at first did not go to the hospital because his boots were high enough to prevent water from touching his skin -- has also gone to the same research hospital out of 'an abundance of caution.'

"Beta rays given off by radioactive substances don't penetrate deeply into materials, including flesh, said Nolan Hertel, a professor nuclear engineering at Georgia Tech. Consequently, the danger is relatively limited, he said.

" 'Basically, a beta burn would be akin to a bad sunburn,' he said...."

There's quite a lot more in the article.

The bottom line seems to be that folks living in Japan are still dealing with a major disaster - and will probably continue doing so for a long time.

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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

GJ 1214b: Water in the Atmosphere; Close; and No Vacation Destination

"A Steamy Super-Earth?"
Alan MacRobert, Sky and Telescope (November 30, 2010)

"In the latest breakthrough for exoplanet science, a team using one of the European Southern Observatory's 8.2-meter Very Large Telescope reflectors has obtained a crude spectrum for the atmosphere of a super-Earth orbiting a dim red dwarf star 40 light-years away. The planet's upper atmosphere is apparently dominated by steam or cloudy haze.

"The star, 14.7-magnitude GJ (Gliese-Jahreiss) 1214 in Ophiuchus, is 300 times dimmer than the Sun with a spectral type of M4.5. Its planet was discovered in 2009 when the MEarth Project detected the planet's silhouette periodically dimming the star. The planet has 6.5 Earth masses, as determined later by the star's gravitational wobbles, and it circles the little star very closely in just 38 hours. The transits reveal the planet's diameter to be 2.6 times Earth's - making its average density very low, only about a third of Earth's density...."

The Lemming's mentioned GJ 1214b before. (December 2, 2010) The Sky and Telescope article gives a bit more information about the exoplanet - and a little more about where it is. At 40 light years, it's practically in our back yard - by galactic standards.

Finding water in GJ 1214b's atmosphere was possible, given today's technology, because the planet is a transiting exoplanet. Its orbit carries it across GJ1214's face, as seen from Earth.

The water could be water vapor; or high-altitude clouds, or haze.

Analyzing an exoplanet's atmosphere is a big deal. With more of that sort of data, astronomers will be able to start classifying worlds around other stars.

About GJ 1214b, detecting water in its upper atmosphere narrowed the possibilities for what the place is like considerably. Back to the article.

"...Before this observation, astronomers had suggested three possible atmospheres for GJ1214b. The planet could be shrouded by water - which, given its high temperature so close to the star (200ºC; 400ºF), would be in the form of steam. Or it could be a rocky world with an atmosphere of mostly hydrogen obscured by high clouds or hazes. Or it might be a mini-Neptune, with a small rocky core and a deep hydrogen-rich atmosphere, the upper part of which would be clear.

"The measurements clearly show no sign of hydrogen and thus rule out the third option. So the atmosphere is either rich in steam or blanketed by clouds or hazes. The planet's low density, meanwhile, indicates that it's a waterworld.

" 'Although we can't yet say exactly what that atmosphere is made of, it is an exciting step forward to be able to narrow down the options for such a distant world to either steamy or hazy,' says Bean. 'Followup observations in longer-wavelength infrared light are needed to determine which of these atmospheres exists on GJ 1214b.' "

"Waterworld," in this context, doesn't mean that GJ1214b is inhabited by folks who look like Kevin Costner. It's a sort of planet that, according to today's models for planetary formation, could exist. And, given the number of planets we're finding, how common hydrogen and oxygen are, and the size of the universe, probably does exist.

A real waterworld isn't so much covered by water, like Earth, as it is made mostly of water. If GJ 1214b is a waterworld, its ocean could be around 15,000 kilometers deep or more. The planet's around 33,020 kilometers in diameter. Those numbers aren't typos. A waterworld's oceans would be deep.

By comparison, Earth is about 12,700 kilometers in diameter; with the Pacific ocean floor at a depth of around 4.3 kilometers/4,300 meters.

There's serious doubt that life could exist on a waterworld. Life-as-we-know it needs water, but everything from microcritters that live in geysers to polar bears and moss need other elements and compounds, too. Which would be in mighty short supply anywhere in a waterworld, about the ocean floor. Which would probably be solid water. Not the sort of ice that's on the ground here in central Minnesota. More likely ice VII - a (very) high pressure sort of solid water. And that's another topic.

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Friday, February 4, 2011

Egypt: The Lost Capital of Ramses II, Pi-Ramses

" 'Lost City' of Tanis Found, but Often Forgotten"
Brian Handwerk, Mysteries of the Ancient World, National Geographic (undated)

"The treasures found in the 'lost city' of Tanis rival those of King Tut's. Yet for more than six decades the riches from its rulers' tombs have remained largely unknown.

"Many who know of Tanis at all remember the city as portrayed in the Indiana Jones movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. In the famous film the city was buried by a catastrophic ancient sandstorm and rediscovered by Nazis searching for the Ark of the Covenant.

"In reality, the Ark was never hidden in Tanis, the sandstorm didn't happen, and the Nazis never battled Indiana Jones in the site's ruins. But the true tale of Tanis is also fit for the silver screen.

"A City Vanishes

"Tanis was known by many names. Ancient Egyptians called it Djanet, and the Old Testament refers to the site as Zoan. Today it's called Sân el-Hagar.

"The site, in the Nile Delta northeast of Cairo, was capital of the 21st and 22nd dynasties, during the reign of the Tanite kings in Egypt's Third Intermediate period.

"The city's advantageous location enabled it to become a wealthy commercial center long before the rise of Alexandria. But political fortunes shifted, and so did the river's waters—and in recent centuries the Tanis site had became a silted plain with some hill-like mounds thought to be of little interest.

"It was known that the ancient city was hidden somewhere in the area, but not where...."

The Lemming watched "Egypt's Lost City," an episode of the Inside Lost Worlds series. (2007) The documentary picks up roughly where Mr. Handwerk's article leaves off - where Tanis / Djanet / Sân el-Hagar was identified as Pi-Ramses the ancient capital of Egypt built by Ramses II.

Just one problem. Several, actually.

Pi-Ramses Found - Sort of

The ruins of Tanis had buildings and statues of Pi-Ramses - but Pi-Ramses had been built on the easternmost branch of the Nile. Ancient Tanis had been on a branch of the Nile, near the east edge of the Nile delta. But the Nile hadn't been there during the reign of Ramses II.

Then there was the pottery found in ancient Tanis - it was old, but not quite as old as Ramses II.

Pi-Ramses - Right Buildings, Wrong Location

So we've got an ancient city, with the buildings and statuary of Ramses II's capital, Pi-Ramses. On a parcel of land that hadn't been on the Nile when Ramses II lived. With pottery that had been made well after the reign of Ramses II.

What's with the Nile moving? Rivers do that - The Mississippi, in North America, has shifted its course since Americans used it as a reference point for state borders. And that's another topic.

Working out where the Nile had been during the three millennia of Ancient Egypt meant analyzing a detailed contour map to work out where major channels had been - and then digging along each of them to get pottery, to identify the times during which each channel had been active. That was a job for someone with a profound interest in ancient Egypt - and a high tolerance for repetitive tasks. In the Lemming's opinion.

Change Happens - People Adapt

Looks like Pi-Ramses was built near Tanis - at a place called Qantir. Which was on the Nile when Ramses II lived. A century or so later, that branch of the Nile slithered into another channel. Scans that look below ground show where streets and buildings had been. But not the buildings and statues of the city.

So, we've got the foundations of Pi-Ramses under Qantir: and the rest of the city at Tanis.

National Geographic published a map in 2003, by the way, showing sites along the Nile River: ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/egypt/images/Egypt.pdf.

Archeologists covered by the "Egypt's Lost City" documentary on Pi-Ramses figure that someone decided to - move the city. Most of it, anyway.

The Lemming will say this for the ancient Egyptians: They didn't seem reluctant to take on big jobs. Like disassembling a city, moving it overland, and putting it back together.

Why? The documentary doesn't go into that, but the Lemming speculates that it was a political decision. If America's capital, Washington D.C., became uninhabitable: it might make sense to relocate the capital, taking along parts of the old one as a symbol of continuity.

A Lot Can Happen in 3,000 Years

Ramses II lived a bit upwards of 3,000 years ago. (3500 BC-2011 Timeline, Google) Quite a bit has happened since then. Persians took over Egypt about 23 centuries back, followed by Greeks. Egypt still had pharaohs, but they weren't - quite - like the old sort.

Then the Roman Empire got interested, and what was left of ancient Egypt was gone. Folks still lived there - but it was the place that had been the land of the pharaohs, not ancient Egypt.

The Roman Empire went out of business about 15 centuries ago, leading to a sharp drop in property values in places like Londinium. That crisis passed, and descendants of the folks living along the outskirts of Rome's domain are sending robot spaceships to explore the universe, making dog food commercials, and - here in central Minnesota - shoveling out from the last snowfall.

Life goes on.

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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Beware Warmonger Imperialist Space Aliens!?

"Study: If We're Not Alone, We Should Fear the Aliens"
Mike Wall, Space.com (January 10, 2010)

"When considering the prospect of alien life, humankind should prepare for the worst, according to a new study: Either we're alone, or any aliens out there are acquisitive and resource-hungry, just like us.

"These two unpalatable options are pretty much the only possibilities, according to the new study. That's because evolution is predictable, and alien biospheres should thus produce intelligent creatures much like us, with technological prowess and an ever-increasing need for resources.

"But the fact that we haven't run across E.T. yet argues strongly for the latter possibility — that we are alone in the universe's howling void, the study suggests.

" 'At present, as many have observed, it is very quiet out there,' study author Simon Conway Morris, of the University of Cambridge, told SPACE.com in an e-mail interview. 'And given many planetary systems are billions of years older than ours, I'd expect us to be best grilled on toast back in the Cambrian.'...

"...Are we alone?

"The prospect of greedy, imperialistic aliens is a troubling one, but Conway Morris thinks another scenario - also depressing - is more likely to be true...."

Suppositions/Assumptions: Big Ones

Mr. Wall did a pretty good job of discussing C. Morris's ideas. On the other hand, the Lemming notes some whacking great assumptions on Morris's part that might have been highlighted a bit more:

"...Life on Earth has exploited just about every conceivable niche, tolerating extremes of temperature, salinity, pH and pressure. Conway Morris makes the case that Earth life thus exists close to the physical and chemical limits of life anywhere....

"...Further, Conway Morris says, evolution operates predictably, producing relatively predictable outcomes. These two suppositions argue that alien life, if it exists, should be fairly similar to terrestrial life, generating intelligent beings much like us. These aliens may look unfamiliar, but any differences would be skin-deep...."

'Now That We Know All There is to Know'

In the Lemming's opinion, it's a trifle imprudent to assume that humanity's current state of ignorance represents all there is to know about the universe. Maybe that's because the Lemming has seen notions touted as 'well-known facts' get relabeled as 'antiquated ideas' too often to be impressed by today's 'well-known facts.'
Life Can't Possibly Exist Except Where We've Found It?
The Lemming remembers when it was pretty well-known that life couldn't exist in Yellowstone's hydrothermal vents: and folks didn't even know about the even more obviously lifeless ones on the ocean floor. (April 12, 2010, October 2, 2009, May 24, 2009) So the idea "that Earth life thus exists close to the physical and chemical limits of life anywhere" is, in the Lemming's opinion, an assumption.
"Evolution Operates Predictably:" Maybe
As far as "evolution operates predictably" goes: maybe it does. It's the Lemming's opinion that humanity doesn't know that. Yet.

There's some reason to think that the evolutionary process tends to produce similar results. An example of "convergent evolution" was, at least at one time, sharks and porpoises. These animals fill roughly the same ecological niche, and look pretty much alike. And both look pretty much like another large predator, the lion.

Wait a minute. A lion looks like a shark or a porpoise?! In a way, yes. All three animals are:
  • Predators with sharp teeth
  • Very roughly the same size
  • Bilaterally symmetrical
    • Like all animals
      • Except the ones that aren't, like
Even the general appearance of these large predators is quite similar. Sharks, porpoises, and lions are a lot longer than they are wide or tall, have two eyes and mouth at one end, a lump of nerves near the eyes, and a long control cable running the length of the creature, protected by a relatively hard segmented sheath.

From one point of view, the chief difference between sharks, porpoises and lions is that two live in water and the other doesn't.

Now, where was the Lemming?

Discussing the possible nature of intelligent life in the universe. Assumptions or suppositions that:
  • Humanity knows all there is to know about conditions which can support life
  • Evolution follows a predictable path
Right. Picking up at that point:

"...These two suppositions argue that alien life, if it exists, should be fairly similar to terrestrial life, generating intelligent beings much like us. These aliens may look unfamiliar, but any differences would be skin-deep...."

That may be true.

Intelligent life, people, everywhere, throughout all space and time, may think and behave pretty much like the gregarious, noisy, risk-taking upright bipeds that live on Earth.

Or, not.

The Space.com article is, in the Lemming's opinion, balanced. There isn't the 'be afraid, be very afraid' approach that's marinated so much fashionably-intellectual discussion recently. And that's another topic.

The article's informed, too: recognizing the scale of the universe, and possible implications of the fact that we're not currently employed as slaves in the lint mines of a galactic overlord. Or selling souvenirs to tourists from Arcturus.

Which is another topic. Several.

E.T., Klaatu, and Cthulhu

Mike Wall, writing for Space.com, also discusses ideas of Albert Harrison, a psychology professor at the University of California, Davis. Harrison isn't a starry-eyed optimist about space aliens, but he's not a pessimist either, it seems:

"...though he doesn't advocate letting our guard down, Harrison is not quite as worried about aliens' possible malignant intentions as Conway Morris is. It's not necessarily inevitable that alien civilizations advance to stages of interstellar imperialism, cruising the cosmos for resources, Harrison said.

"Despite the atrocities leading the news every night, societies here on Earth seem to be trending more toward peaceful coexistence, Harrison said. And even if an alien civilization got greedy and imperialistic, there's no guarantee it would be able to run roughshod over its neighbors...."

There's more - and the Lemming thinks Harrison's notion of a sort of natural 'checks and balances' makes sense. Let's remember that even the Assyrians didn't last all that long.

Or maybe H. P. Lovecraft got it right.

We've seen quite a range of space aliens in the movies, including:
Then there's Cthulhu.

The Lemming hasn't read the H. P. Lovecraft Cthulhu stories, but gathers that Cthulhu and quite a few of the Dreaded Old Ones weren't so much opposed to humanity, as indifferent. Which was still bad for humanity.

It's like when a squirrel wanders into a transformer. The utility company isn't engaged in a pogrom against squirrels: the incinerated critter just made a wrong turn.

Related posts:
Two dozen centuries of assumptions, summarized:
About the mind of the alien:
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Monday, January 3, 2011

Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide Now! Or, Not

Born during the Truman administration, the Lemming developed an acute awareness of environmental concerns during the '60s. To this day, the Lemming firmly believes that it's a bad idea to dump raw sewage in rivers; and that if a waterway catches fire, there's something wrong.

That, in the Lemming's opinion, is common sense.

Then, there's this sort of thing, adapted by the Lemming from a Pennsylvania publication:

Dihydrogen Monoxide: Be Afraid! Be Very Afraid!

Ignorance? Or conspiracy? Deeply buried in government records is this grim statistic: 9,072 people died in 1992, as a result of contact with dihydrogen monoxide! The body count was even higher the next year!

Yet dihydrogen monoxide use continues in America: permeating the land, the air, and our homes!

Dihydrogen Monoxide: Facts

Dihydrogen monoxide, the basics:
  • Is called "hydroxyl acid", the substance is the major component of acid rain
  • Contributes to the "greenhouse effect"
  • May cause severe burns
  • Is fatal if inhaled
  • Contributes to the erosion of our natural landscape
  • Accelerates corrosion and rusting of many metals
  • May cause electrical failures and decreased effectiveness of automobile brakes
  • Has been found in excised tumors of terminal cancer patients
Despite the danger, dihydrogen monoxide is often used:
  • As
    • An industrial solvent and coolant
    • A fire retardant.
    • An additive in certain "junk-foods" and other food products
      • Even after washing, produce remains contaminated by this chemical.
  • In
    • Nuclear power plants
    • The production of Styrofoam
    • Many forms of cruel animal research
    • The distribution of pesticides

The Dihydrogen Monoxide Threat: Seriously?

Is this nearly omnipresent chemical as dangerous as it sounds? Yes, and no.

This Wikipedia article gives a pretty good explanation for why Americans are, despite the very real risks, still using dihydrogen monoxide:

"Dihydrogen monoxide hoax" Wikipedia "The dihydrogen monoxide hoax is a deception that involves the use of an unfamiliar name for water ('dihydrogen monoxide'), then, by listing some negative effects of this chemical, attempts to convince people that it should be carefully regulated, labeled as hazardous, or banned. The hoax is designed to illustrate how the lack of scientific literacy and an exaggerated analysis can lead to misplaced fears.[1]"Dihydrogen monoxide", shortened to 'DHMO', is a name for water that is consistent with basic rules of chemical nomenclature,[2] but is not among the names published by IUPAC[3] and is almost never used...."

Water? WATER?!!

Is water dangerous? Yes. The Lemming lives in Minnesota, where reports of death by drowning are a sadly-familiar part of the news. That drowning death statistic, by the way, is from a United States Census publication.

Does the Lemming think that water should be banned? No. As explained elsewhere, the Lemming is apathetic. Even if some federal bureau of hyper-cautious regulations decided to limit water to injections administered by licensed health care providers: folks would still need the stuff.

And, happily for everyone who enjoys swimming, water skiing, or taking showers, we're not likely to see a ban of dihydrogen monoxide any time soon. At least, the Lemming hopes not.

Enviro-nuttiness and the Lemming:
Somewhat-related posts in other blogs:
A tip of the hat to a family member, for the heads-up on that Wikipedia article.
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Monday, December 6, 2010

Lemming Tracks: Climate Change is the New Global Warming?

Fashions change: the weirdness that occasionally shows up in Robert Basler's Oddly Enough blog; and the sort of thing that college students must take very seriously, if they expect to pass the course.

The Lemming remembers when we were gonna die in the food riots, face a life expectancy of 42, and it was all futile anyway, because glaciers would soon grind away the pathetic remains of civilization. An ice age was coming, you see. (November 19, 2010, April 20, 2010)

Experts said so.

Now, of course, experts have been telling us that nature's delicate balance1 is threatened by of global warming.

That fashion may be changing, in the Lemming's opinion. Keep an eye out for the new bogey man: climate change.

This new, improved dire threat showed up - again - in today's news. Or, rather, "analysis."

"Climate Change Challenges Circadian Clocks"
Tim Wall, Analysis, Animal News, Discovery News (December 6, 2010)

"In life's race against time, plants and animals may have to reset their circadian clocks to keep up with climate change. Organisms that rely on several cues besides daylight to regulate their behavior will have the advantage. For mammals in the wild, unfortunately, daylight appears to be a stronger regulator than previously thought.

"Day length regulates many behaviors such as breeding and migration. This enables animals' circadian rhythms to match up with the long-term patterns of the earth's ecosystems. Evolutionarily this helped species to survive through erratic weather patterns, as they would avoid deadly mistakes like migrating north during a warm spell in January, only to find no food and die when the weather turns cold again.

"With global climate change rapidly impacting seasonal plant growth, however, now the evolutionary benefits of relying on day-length cycles may backfire...."

The Lemming thinks that "climate change" is a safer bet than either the coming ice age or global warming. "Safer bet?" It's about as close to a sure thing as we ever see. One thing that's remained constant over the last several billion years on this planet is - change.

The Lemming's said this before: it's odd, how America's dominant culture revels in the idea that vast, sweeping changes have altered the very fabric of life over millions and millions of years.

The notion that change happened, on a large scale, is accepted. And, until about a hundred and fifty years or so back, change was natural. Then, starting somewhere in about the 18th century, change was somebody's fault.

The "climate change" that analysis warns of? The Lemming thinks it's probably happening. It would be a disturbing alteration in nature, if Earth's climate wasn't changing.

Sort-of-related posts:More:
1 The Lemming thinks that pandas are cute, and thinks that it's a good idea to not dump raw sewage in one's drinking water. But - nature's 'delicate' balance? I've written about that before:
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Thursday, December 2, 2010

GJ 1214b: Super-Earth, With an Interesting Atmosphere

What, another science post?! (The Lemming posted "Arsenic and Old Science..." earlier today.)

"Atmosphere of Alien Super-Earth Revealed for First Time"
Clara Moskowitz, Space.com (December 1, 2010)

"The first-ever analysis of the atmosphere of an alien planet classified as a so-called 'super-Earth' has revealed a distant world that is likely covered with either water vapor or a thick haze, scientists announced today (Dec. 1).

"The exoplanet GJ 1214b, which orbits a star 40 light-years from Earth, offers astronomers a unique chance to study its atmosphere because it passes directly in front of its parent star from Earth's line of sight. That means that once an orbit, the star's light is filtered as it passes through the planet's atmosphere on its way to Earth, taking with it an imprint from the chemicals there. [Illustration of alien planet GJ 1214b]

" 'We're trying to get at: What's the main component of this planet's atmosphere?' said lead researcher Jacob Bean, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.

"GJ 1214b is called a super-Earth because it is larger than our home planet but smaller than gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn. It was first discovered in 2009 and has been studied ever since...."

"...Rather than find a signal crawling with interesting elements, the scientists discovered that GJ 1214b's atmosphere bears a relatively flat, featureless signature.

" 'That might seem a bit boring, but that's actually a very powerful constraint,' Bean told SPACE.com.

"It means, for example, that the exoplanet's atmosphere can't contain much hydrogen, which typically leaves a strong feature in the spectrum of light coming from a planet.

"The astronomers concluded that the alien world's atmosphere is most likely dominated by water vapor or blanketed by a haze of clouds that is blocking other chemicals underneath.

" 'This isn't a definitive result, but it's very exciting,' Bean said. 'It points the way toward the future.'..."

This is actually quite exciting news.

GJ 1214b isn't the sort of "class M" planet that the old Star Trek series: many of which looked an awful like southern California, in the Los Angeles area. Which is almost another topic.

GJ 1214b is big - about 2.4 times the diameter of Earth, the Space.com article says - and, since it seems to be made out of roughly the same materials as Earth, the surface gravity would be distinctly uncomfortable. Sort of like walking with somebody sitting on your shoulders - who was carrying a pre-teen child.

The Lemming's no physiologist - but my guess is that sore feet would be among the least of one's problems, on a visit to GJ 1214b.

The size of the planet might make it a friendlier place for life than Earth, though. Some researchers think that maybe Earth is about as small as a planet can be - and still have conditions that let life develop. (December 5, 2009, January 13, 2008)

The latest news about GJ 1214b's atmosphere is very far from 'proof' that there's water there. On the other hand, it shows that the place has an atmosphere - and one that's not the sort of hydrogen-rich mix we're used to seeing on heavy planets.

Related posts:More related posts, at
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Saturday, November 27, 2010

Lemming Tracks: "8 x 8" Water Rule, Real Research; Beer and Pretzels

Ever tried drinking those eight glasses of water - eight-ounce glasses, of course?

Somewhere around the time when experts warned that everything caused cancer1, The Lemming decided to drink as much as was needed to feel comfortable, and leave it at that.

Sloshing Toward Enlightenment

Ever wonder, as you sloshed between the lavatory and the water faucet, why the eight x eight rule was so 'scientific?'

Turns out, although 'everybody knows' that the eight x eight rule is very 'scientific,' the idea is about as solid as the emperor's new clothes.

About eight years ago (yet another eight!), a brave soul at the Dartmouth Medical School, Lebanon, New Hampshire's Department of Physiology decided to find out where the eight x eight rule came from.

Even though The New York Times itself had published the rule.

Daring!

Here's what he found.

Or, rather, didn't find.

Take a Deep Breath: Journalese Ahead

The Lemming will be back, after this rather extensive - and possibly boring - excerpt from a refreshingly competent bit of research.

Real research: with citations and everything. Not the sort of 'expert' proclamations you see in news media.

"INVITED REVIEW"
" 'Drink at least eight glasses of water a day.' Really? Is there scientific evidence for '8 × 8'?"
Heinz Valtin, with the Technical Assistance of Sheila A. Gorman
Department of Physiology, Dartmouth Medical School, Lebanon, New Hampshire 03756
Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 283: R993-R1004, 2002. First published August 8, 2002; doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00365.2002 0363-6119/02 $5.00 (November 2002)

"ABSTRACT

"Despite the seemingly ubiquitous admonition to "drink at least eight 8-oz glasses of water a day" (with an accompanying reminder that beverages containing caffeine and alcohol do not count), rigorous proof for this counsel appears to be lacking. This review sought to find the origin of this advice (called "8 × 8" for short) and to examine the scientific evidence, if any, that might support it. The search included not only electronic modes but also a cursory examination of the older literature that is not covered in electronic databases and, most importantly and fruitfully, extensive consultation with several nutritionists who specialize in the field of thirst and drinking fluids. No scientific studies were found in support of 8 × 8. Rather, surveys of food and fluid intake on thousands of adults of both genders, ... strongly suggest that such large amounts are not needed because the surveyed persons were presumably healthy and certainly not overtly ill. This conclusion is supported by published studies showing that caffeinated drinks (and, to a lesser extent, mild alcoholic beverages like beer in moderation) may indeed be counted toward the daily total, as well as by the large body of published experiments that attest to the precision and effectiveness of the osmoregulatory system for maintaining water balance...."

"INTRODUCTION

"WE SEE THE EXHORTATION EVERYWHERE: 'drink at least eight glasses of water a day' (17). The advice comes not only (as in the above quote) from a respected health columnist of The New York Times, but also from numerous writers in the popular press (3, 6, 10, 26, 54). Some, perhaps many, physicians counsel their patients in a similar vein, both orally and in writing. So prevalent is the recommendation that it is now commonly expressed simply as '8 × 8' (signifying that each of the 8 glasses in question must have a volume of 8 oz).

"As we look around us in our daily activities, we can observe how slavishly the exhortation is being followed. Everywhere, people are carrying bottles of water and taking frequent sips from them. Prior to September 11, when there was little restriction on how much baggage passengers could carry onboard airplanes..."

"POSSIBLE ORIGIN OF 8 × 8

"Despite a comprehensive search of the literature (see SEARCH STRATEGY, end of article), I have not been able to find an article where 8 × 8 is recommended on the basis of solid scientific evidence. The closest reference was an obituary on the renowned nutritionist Fredrick J. Stare, brought to my attention by Dr. Barbara Rolls, an expert on the topic of thirst (76). The obituary (77) stated, in part, that Dr. Stare "was an early champion of drinking at least six glasses of water a day." A former colleague of Dr. Stare, Dr. Elizabeth Whelan (82), found the following passage in a book that Dr. Stare coauthored with Dr. Margaret McWilliams in 1974 (81):
"How much water each day? This is usually well regulated by various physiological mechanisms, but for the average adult, somewhere around 6 to 8 glasses per 24 hours and this can be in the form of coffee, tea, milk, soft drinks, beer, etc. Fruits and vegetables are also good sources of water.
"The passage, which is not referenced, appears as part of a very brief section at the very end of the book, after the authors have discussed various aspects of nutrition (calories, carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, etc.) in the preceding 174 pages. Thus water is taken up in this book almost as an afterthought....

But, Dr. Stare had a "leading position in the field of nutrition." He was an "exert," in other words.

Back to the article.

"Furthermore, lest the advocates of 8 × 8 now adopt this quote from Dr. Stare as scientific evidence, let me point out the following: 1) this is an apparently casual opinion by Drs. Stare and McWilliams, which is undocumented by any scientific experiment; 2) there is a huge difference between 'somewhere around 6 to 8 glasses' and 'at least eight glasses' (17), and it is the latter recommendation that is in question; 3) in Drs. Stare and McWilliams's passage, caffeinated and alcoholic drinks such as coffee, tea, soft drinks, and beer are allowed, whereas these categories are excluded by the proponents of 8 × 8; and 4) Drs. Stare and McWilliams introduce their estimate with the statement that water intake is 'usually well regulated by various physiological mechanisms,' whereas the advocates of 8 × 8 claim that if we wait for these mechanisms to determine our water intake we will already be dehydrated.

"According to J. Papai (65), P. Thomas has suggested a different origin for 8 × 8. Thomas reminds us that in 1945 the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council wrote (31):
"A suitable allowance of water for adults is 2.5 liters daily in most instances. An ordinary standard for diverse persons is 1 milliliter for each calorie of food. Most of this quantity is contained in prepared foods.
"Thomas suggests that the last sentence was not heeded, and the recommendation was therefore erroneously interpreted as eight glasses of water to be drunk each day. The Food and Nutrition Board is currently reevaluating its recommendation [see below, under National Academy of Sciences (USA), Food and Nutrition Board]...."

I am Not an Expert: But I have Seen Human Beings

Ever get the impression that some 'experts,' particularly the 'child-rearing experts' of post-WWII America, had heard of human beings, but never actually seen one?

The Lemming has seen human beings. Living ones. In fact, I have been accepted into a small community of these strange creatures: here in the heart of darkest Minnesota.

After decades of observations, I have come to a few conclusions, about how healthy human beings eat foods and drink fluids.

When a human being is thirsty, it probably needs water or other fluids.

When a human being is not thirsty, it probably doesn't need water or other fluids just then.

In fact - and this may be the most startling discovery of all - human beings have been known to be thirsty, waited several minutes before ingesting fluids: AND SURVIVED!!

Perhaps a panel of 'experts' could get a government grant - a few million dollars should do - to study human beings in the wild.

The Lemming suggests that grant writers focus on a topic of manageable scope: like "A Longitudinal Study of Fluid Intake Among Indigenous Populations in Central Minnesota, With Particular Emphasis on the Ratio of Beer to Pretzels."

More silliness:
1 To be fair, those often-anonymous experts didn't quite name everything on Earth as a carcinogen. On the other hand, one of my college textbooks had a list of "known carcinogens." Full page. Fine print.

We've got a phrase for that sort of thing now: "junk science." (Junk May 18, 2009)
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