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Hydrogen Bonding Between Water Molecules; Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons Water is often called the “universal solvent” because it dissolves more substances than any other compound (which is why we’d prefer to rinse our dishes in water rather than, say, milk). The chemical properties of water make this so. While [...]
Human Cell; Photo courtesy of Wellcome Library, London By weight, water comprises the majority of our bodies. The exact proportion varies by sex (men are about 60% waterous, while women, with typically more body fat, are only 55% waterlicious). Babies, however, seem to float. At birth, the typical infant [...]
Photo courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey Everything you flush down the drain goes somewhere. Out of sight might be out of your mind, but it is now on someone else’s mind (or in someone else’s body). Scientists have become increasingly concerned with the occurrence of “emerging contaminants” – [...]
About 43,000 square miles of land area in the US is covered by asphalt, buildings and other impervious surfaces. The extent to which Paradise has been paved over depends upon land use and population (and perhaps, your point of view). Over 94% of Mid-Manhattan West[1] is covered by [...]
It requires nearly 1,800 gallons of water to produce (i.e., feed and “finish”) one pound of beef[1]. This means the steak you are salivating over (that 3 oz. portion) required almost 342 gallons of water to produce, or more than six times the water required to grow a pound of [...]
There’s no such thing as a free lunch. The vegetables out of my garden may appear free (especially if I’ve used seeds collected from previous years), but in addition to my time, hard work, and some nominal expenditures on irrigation tubing, garden tools, and starts, I must add water. [...]
Adding 0.06 gallons of urine (equivalent to one, average pee) to 1.6 gallons of water (equivalent to one post-1994 low-water toilet bowlful) produces 1.66 gallons of pee-water with urea at .07% concentration. Yes, people, that’s essentially very dilute nitrogen fertilizer. Guess what happens when we add excess nitrogen – in [...]
We’re not called the Blue Planet for nothing; 70.8% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water[1]. Despite being ubiquitous, the amount of fresh water available to drink, bathe and manufacture goods is surprisingly small. Only 2.5% of all water on the planet is fresh, with most of that locked in [...] Water is heavy and difficult to move around. Yet, we pump it up from the ground, transport it great distances, treat it, use it, and mix it with wastes. Then, we treat it a second time, move it again, and ultimately discharge it, all of which consumes tremendous amounts of energy. To wit, [...] |
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