I’m no rocket scientist, but...

"Just Jeepin'" (macintux)
05/15/2020 at 13:25 • Filed to: Better you than me, Spacelopnik

This is a classic text, the history of some nasty shit, notable for among other things a foreword by Isaac Asimov.

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See also, this extract with context describing one of the most destructive compounds you’re never likely to encounter.

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And an old NASA film on the handling of rocket fuel.

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DISCUSSION (15)

Cash Rewards > Just Jeepin'
05/15/2020 at 13:52

I used to work in cell and tissue labs, and have some fun experience with nasty chemicals and biological agents. To out it one way, I was glad my kids turned out ok after working with some of the things I did. But nothing quite that hazardous. My worst in terms of fire and corrosion was NaH, which if you added water turned into NaOH (burn you as a strong base) and H2 gas (burn you with fire).

Also fun story, I have a cousin who used to be an actual rocket scientist, a fact he used liberally. As in "guys, this isn't rocket science, trust me". Or "I'm no rocket scientist...wait, yes I am". I gotta admit, I'd have done the same.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Just Jeepin'
05/15/2020 at 14:03

I once worked for a company that made pool chemicals and we found that adding hydrazine to pool waters did an amazing job adding clarity and removing cyanuric acid. However, we were very wary of the possibility of someone spilling hydrazine on their chlorine and then causing their pool chemical shed to become a suburban V2. This idea was never pursued beyond the concept stage.

I *did* try and soften the blow by showing off my new all-in-one pool maintenance tablet that had chlorine, flocculant, pH balancer, and more all as one giant tablet the size of a dinner plate. It would foam and fizz in the pool like an alka-seltzer. I even had a prototype where the tabs were the size of hockey pucks and we had a floating cornhole board. My hope was that after the “We could tell people to add rocket fuel to their pool” presentation, my “We can have people chuck alka-seltzers into their pool by playing cornhole” idea would be better received. It was not. I don’t work there an ymore.

ttyymmnn > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
05/15/2020 at 14:13

When I was in college, one of the frat houses tried to clean up after a party by pouring bleach and ammonia together on the floor, with predictable results. I guess none of them were chemistry majors.

smobgirl > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
05/15/2020 at 14:30

I often wonder about the poor souls who were tasked with inventing clumping cat litter:

“Here’s a bucket of cat piss, see what you can add it to and reinvent concrete!”

Chariotoflove > Cash Rewards
05/15/2020 at 15:05

LastFirstMI is my name > Just Jeepin'
05/15/2020 at 15:22

When I was working as a teenager at a road-side gas station/shop, this farmer would drop by in his very clean ‘63 Ford pickup. One day, he heard I was in a science competition and brought me a stack of his old Scientific American magazines. Turns out he had been a NASA engineer with the Apollo program and had retired to farming once his parents passed away. Unassuming, cool guy.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > smobgirl
05/15/2020 at 15:24

I think that is easier than you think, cat litter is mostly dried out clay bentonite and some additives for odor. When bentonite is “watered” it swells up and forms the most slimy clay ball we call a cat piss bomb.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Just Jeepin'
05/15/2020 at 15:25

I’m no rocket scientist but I have cleaned up after them.

DipodomysDeserti > Just Jeepin'
05/15/2020 at 15:37

I’m currently in an Environmental Resource Management graduate program. Just finished up a soil and groundwater contamination class. You should see how much toxic shit we’ve dumped into the ground all over this country. It will never, truly be cleaned up by people (the Earth will eventually clean it up on its own thanks to microbes). It’s in our food, it’s in our water, and everyone knows about it. There’s a reason CV diseases and cancers kill more of us than infectious disease (by a wide margin).

smobgirl > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
05/15/2020 at 15:39

I don’t do the clay litter though, so someone still had to have some fun to make this stuff.

(I’m not at all allergic to cats, but I’m horribly allergic to something in most of the litters. Not sure if it’s the clay dust or scent additives but I stick with plant-based and it helps).

DipodomysDeserti > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
05/15/2020 at 15:40

How about the dude on Oppo trying to sell UV door handles last night ? Holy shit...

I just finished up a semester that involved a graduate level algae bioengineering class. I had a panic attack as soon as you started talking about flocculants.

Dead_Elvis, Inc. > ttyymmnn
05/15/2020 at 15:50

one of the frat houses tried to clean up after a party by pouring bleach and ammonia together on the floor

My experience with frat bros indicates that no one of value would have been lost.

Just Jeepin' > DipodomysDeserti
05/15/2020 at 15:56

Sad but true.

Out of curiosity I looked at the numbers: it looks like COVID-19 will be #3 on the list of U.S. killers this year, and that’s assuming a relatively mild rest of the year . (Accidents are #3 as of a couple of years ago, at 160k).

If the 2nd wave is truly worse than the first, it’s not inconceivable it could be #1.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > DipodomysDeserti
05/15/2020 at 16:40

I saw the word algae and my only response is copious amounts of copper sulfate. Al l of the copper sulfate. No algae. Just copper.

Kinja'd!!!

DipodomysDeserti > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
05/15/2020 at 17:14

My independent research project and possible applied project involves growing algae out in the desert. KEEP THAT SHIT AWAY FROM ME!