HARNESSING THE POWER OF THE RAIN GODS!!
Last evening I was reading about a bad drought in China, and how scientists there were planning to "seed" clouds to try and create rain. This caught my interest and I decided to look up more about "cloud seeding".
Drought threatens 1.5 million in southwest China
This brought me to a Wikipedia site on cloud seeding which was quite informative, despite some minor cursing in the introduction. (I actually tried to be a good dooby and edit it out, but my patience ran out when I couldn't do it on my first attempt) Amusingly enough, I may not have been the only person to visit a formerly low traffic page after this China article. Low and behold, today the cursing is no longer there... but I digress.
Anyway cloud seeding is interesting because they put chemicals in the air, which one would think could create toxic rain, or pollution when it does eventually fall back to ground. More disturbing than this, is apparently it is done frequently. At first I pooh poohed this notion, the source being Wikipedia and all... but their links to various studies, some in the U.S. check out. So think radiation in Quaker Oats back in the 50s, courtesy of Uncle Sam, apparently the government is still in a round about way using us as Guinna pigs! I feel like renting conspiracy theory!
Lastly in this amusing endeavor I discovered the inspiration for ice-9. Seeding clouds involves inserting large quantities of a nucleating agent into clouds to facilitate the formation of ice crystals. Yes... Yes... a couple of you out there must have read Cat's Cradle. Well, apparently, Kurt Vonnegut's brother Bernard Vonnegut was a well known atmospheric scientist who actually discovered that silver iodide could be used to seed clouds and create precipitation. Yes... truth inspires fiction. Given the somewhat unflattering portrayal of the scientist in Kurt's novel, it would lead me to believe he wasn't on the best of terms with his brother. It would seem like a rather harsh joke otherwise. But perhaps it was..... I always thought Cat's Cradle stood in contempt of technology, amongst many other things. Apparently Bernard's work was featured in other Vonnegut novels as well.
My day at work today was kind of like the day the stock market had.... enough said.
I hope Wednesday is better!
No comments:
Post a Comment