imp

Please, will someone help me to understand this? The literature describes removal of residual water from insoluble product by washing the product with concentrated salt water. Can someone explain the chemical mechanism by which this works? Thanks! imp

A nice security lady at K.C. airport was kind enough to rattle off the types of explosives her "sniffer" could detect while circling the perimeter of my closed carry-on bag. Seemed they were all nitrate-based compounds, as common explosives tend to be. However, there are many which are different in structure, notably peroxides and various cyclic compounds. Has anyone had a similar screening experience, or perhaps worse, one with medically-prescribed nitroglycerin tablets for heart trouble, which resulted in a boarding "hassle"? Do you feel it was wise that the security person reveal types screened for? Just curious about the effectiveness, and even advisability of, today's security paranoia in general. imp

If a clamp-on meter exists which reads out steady-state d.c. current, I am not aware of it. Clamp-ons depend on a CHANGING magnetic field (a.c.) to induce a voltage which can be used as an indicator. imp Kindly ignore my above paragraph. Recently introduced clamp-on meters are available which measure D. C. current. Sorry. imp

Good explanation as any I've seen came from one of my lecturers at University of Nevada. I had noted this smell was most obvious in the arid desert area, far more so than the wet Midwestern geography I had grown up in. He believed the desert plants being deprived of water for many weeks, sometimes months, had developed a mechanism by which they sensed increases in relative humidity which occurred during "monsoon season", and the plants' pores opened to admit wet air into the surface cells, at the same time releasing the odors predominant in desert plants. Cutting open various desert plants seemed to confirm that their natural odors greatly resembled that before-the-storm smell. imp

My father told a story of doing the above out back of a dairy in the neighborhood using old stored 10-gallon milk cans. They hammered the covers on tight, created enormous explosions, throwing the covers many hundreds of feet. Dangerous activity- that's why it was fun!! imp

Duration of exposure is important. Medical x-ray "photos" use very short, comparatively, exposure times, typically less than 1 second; dental sometimes more. The "fluoroscope" exposes one to the x-ray beam as long as it is "on", possibly 30 seconds, or more, depending on procedure. Now, here in the U.S. until the 1950's, there had been in general use, fluoroscopes, which were installed in, of all places, stores selling footware! As a kid, we always stuck our feet into the box, while the salesperson operated the machine, and all could peer at the wiggling toe bones, nails in shoes, etc., as long as we cared to, all the while being exposed to the beam of radiation passing through our eyes, heads, and so on. These devices were finally banned by the states, individually. Voltage used ranged from 90,000 to 110,000 volts, which produced some pretty "hard" rays. Long term damage done? Never really assessed, to my knowledge. Anyone remember them, or have heard of them? see: http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/shoefittingfluor/shoe.htm

Gallium Arsenide has been in use since the earliest times of transistor development, as a "doping" agent when making semiconductors. Therefore very much of that material has undoubtedly found its way into the environment. FWIW. imp

Powdered metals, not turnings or filings, are typically made during very high temperature processes in kilns where the vaporized metal deposits out on the walls of the kiln and is scraped off when cooled. This fact can be found in many texts and informational directories. This process is darned near impossible to achieve by the home chemist. imp

Assuredly possible, happens to me often. Believe related to ingestion of other things which offset the allergic reaction; why? don't know. imp

Consider possibility your anomaly may be totally unrelated to any event/occurrence only a few hours before its presence; this may be a reaction from as long as several days or more before. Think back of anything unusual, different clothes washing detergent, for example. Anitihistamine can't hurt. imp

So, without trying to understand the technical terminology in the abstract, what harm, if any, is being done physiologically by mobiles, and how long does exposure have to be to bring it about? imp

I like to think, on a practical level, of nearly-perfect elastic collisions occurring on a billiard table. One could almost visualize that the time needed to effecty the collision would include that used in slightly deforming the curved surfaces of the ballso while under impact- flat areas of deformation which "spring back" elastically as the balls separate. That impact time defines the duration of kinetic energy transfer. Energy is transferred, not "lost". imp

Generally called "brake fade", and occurs as coefficient of friction becomes changed drastically from excessive heat build-up. Drum brakes are (usually) more prone to fading than disc brakes, as a rule. Note that commercial airliners use disc brakes which must by certification be capable of stopping the airplane on their own in the event of failure of thrust reversal. Also, disc brakes are now being used on some of the bigger classes of railroad cars, instead of the old style brake shoes which clamped on the O.D. of the wheel rim. imp

SOMEONE has to do it! imp

Microwave radiation is generated in ovens using a magnetron tube. These require relatively high voltage to operate, around 1200 volts, as I recall. So, if battery power were the source, it would need to be raised to the magnetron's required operating voltage, anyway. Incidentally, the reason microwave ovens seem very heavy is that they contain a large power transformer, whose purpose it is to raise the local voltage to that needed. imp

Have you ever seen the little desktop device with a number of metal balls touching each other, and each suspended by a string? Pull one away at the end, and when it hits its neighbor............................imp

Try a search of the term "flavonoids". Class of antioxidants found in fruits, some vegetables, and chocolate. You will find there are many flavonoids, each thought to have specific value to the human biological system, and specific ones are found in specific source foods. So enjoy chocolate (dark), but not in excess; it's rather fattening! imp

In EM radiation, the shorter the wavelength, the more "penetrating" the radiation is, as though it may "enter" interstitial spaces more readily. At the same time, the actual INTENSITY of a given wavelength may be high or low, independent of the wavelength. imp

Your definition of a successful politician apparently eludes me. "Successful" politically, then, implies lacking honesty and integrity? To me, a successful politician would be a good manager of large groups of people, one having such ability without being a manipulator of people. Using my definition, then, reveals factually that political ambition can be paralleled with parasitism. imp

Note here that cured meat products, like ham, lunchmeat products, hot dogs, etc., and a raft of other EDIBLES, are preserved by addition of sodium nitrite, which is metabolized to nitrosamine in the human body, as I understand it. imp

As I see it, the proposed re-vamping of the net is actually nothing more than a thinly-disguised means of extracting additional revenue from its use. imp

In the realm of pyrotechnics, fireworks making, use of chlorates with any sulfur bearing substance is generally strongly discouraged, as some, notably potassium chlorate, explode by percussion when sulfur is present. Therefore, in projecting shells from a mortar tube, for example, such materials may detonate prematurely while still being accelerated in the tube, due to inertial effects upon them. This process is termed "set-back". imp

This is a most interesting post; I wonder how I escaped hearing of polonium in cigarette smoke? At any rate, radon is present when gas mantles used in camping lighting glow while burning fuel vapor heats them. Mantles are made of silk treated with thorium oxide. A big thing was made of this fact perhaps 25 years ago, then the interest seemed to fade away. imp

Did you count them initially, so that you can be sure none were swallowed during the guzzling? imp

After reading through this thread, I went back to this post. Kindly explain the Solar winds more thoroughly to me, please. imp