Ah,
granulated chemicals—is there no end to your wonders? A British toy
company has used them to come up with a solution to your kids' bath-time
avoidance strategy: Turn the bath into thick pink slime with a dash of Gelli Baff,
better known around these parts as sodium polyacrylate, a
super-absorbent polymer also found in disposable diapers. If the
young'uns are fond of Ghostbusters 2 (are kids still into those
movies?), I can't think of a better way to get them psyched about
jumping in the tub. And if you're wondering about the potential havoc
the stuff might wreak on your plumbing, not to worry. Just toss in the
"dissolver packet" to turn the slime back into the liquid form from
which it came.
You
can buy a four-pack of Gelli Baff for £20, or a full pound of good ol'
sodium polyacrylate (table salt works fine for the dissolving agent) at stevespanglerscience.com. —John Mahoney.
What a shame we find this so late. Our kids are out of the age of bathing in goo.
I found
this cute little note while browsing for historical evidence that new
thought is always, or at least most always, opposed by contrary thought.
I found too much to quote it all. There was a powerful man at the helm
of the Royal Society, who proclaimed that flight heavier than air is
utterly impossible (did he actually think that the pheasant he shot for
dinner was lighter than air while in flight, then gained weight in
death? Absurd! Ah, of course, I forgot to account for the weight of lead
shot with which the bird was peppered). That occurred just some 8 years
before the Wright brothers took 'first flight'. The same man, Lord
Kelvin by name, declared categorically that x-rays will be found a hoax.
Radio, when first presented, was declared a passing fancy at best and
no commercial value was allowed for it. Edison was chasing a laughable
dream before he finally came up with a working light bulb) And if I am
telling you that salt water can burn, and not only that, but will burn
at a temperature of some 3000 degrees, you will declare me unfit for
independent, unsupervised life. 'There were enough burning ships that
sank in the sea and the water extinguished their flames. Never did such a
brand set fire to the sea".
Well,
since 2002 there are patent applications running. The phenomena was
discovered by accident. Salt water was irradiated at a frequency used
for treating cancer. It was found that it breaks down the bonds between
the components of water - Na, Cl, O, H. Of course it is the hydrogen
that reunites with the stabilizing oxygen and releases the tremendous
amount of energy. What role sodium and chlorine play in this scheme is
not discussed in the paper I've seen. I can imagine the patent lawyers
are having a ball with this for the past ten years and into the future.
And
so it goes with science, be it in physics or medicine, mathematics,
astronomy or any other branch. The Jesuits were somewhat unhappy that
Galileo was only condemned to recant his theory of heliocentrism and
given house arrest. They would have preferred to burn him at the stake
for heresy. And you must allow that the Jesuits are highly educated men.
Their opposing view was firmly anchored in Psalm 104:5. But give things
time, and some will evolve. Freud is still described as a charlatan in
some circles, the motor car was declared a creation of the devil not
too many years ago, etc. We are now on somewhat more familiar terms with
both of them even though we make jokes about old Siegmund, an often
curse to other guy's motor car; sometimes even our own.
Isa's food for thought today.
No comments:
Post a Comment