Ah, Crystal Clear Water
Recently my microbiology class had a water purification project. I like projects. Specifically, I like projects that involve me playing around outside class. In this particlular project I had a very bright idea: I decided that I would use one of my previous bright ideas.
My previous bright idea involved running DC current through a salt solution. This creates chlorine gas and hydrogen gas. The idea was that the chlorine would kill the germs. Simple.
I asked one of the chemistry professors what else might be generated from this reacion. He looked up at the ceiling briefly, then flipped through the general chemistry text book. He appologised for not knowing off the top of his head before explaining that the reaction would result in a basic solution. The only thing I had to worry about was creating a solution that was too basic to drink.
I returned to my dorm room. With an air of slightly rebelious adventure, I decided I would treat my (already clean) tap water with my chlorine generating apparatus, then drink only that water for an entire day. I quickly made enough of the water for this purpose. I touched a spoonful of the water to my tongue. My tongue did not fall off. I drank a small amount. It tasted like pool water, but I decided this was nothing to worry about. The solution was ok to drink.
I drank that water for the entire day. By the end of the day I was quite sick of it. It tasted awful, and was generally unpleasant. I began to wonder if someone would be able to stand drinking it long term.
The microbiology water treatment lab was successful. The testing plate for the water from my project showed no bacterial colonies. This was quite pleasing, and I began to have dreams of saving myself and my companions from dying of diarhea in some swamp using only a AA battery and a pencil.
Some time later I sat thinking. The chlorine had not bubbled out of the solution as I had originally thought it should. I tried to think of where it could have gone, and decided that it would have bonded to the OH-. This would have made ClOH. ClOH is an acid, so it would lose a hydrogen and become ClO-. NA+ was running around. Na+ and ClO- make NaOCl. NaOCl is bleach. I had drunk beach solution for an entire day.
That was smart.
That explains the constant urinating.
I canceled my heroic visions.
Side note: making a half cup of this stuff would still be good for killing the bacteria in several gallons of water, but it's probably only wise to use it in emergiency situations.
Side note side note: this is the fist post I have made in this blog that has anything whatsoever to do with chemistry.
My previous bright idea involved running DC current through a salt solution. This creates chlorine gas and hydrogen gas. The idea was that the chlorine would kill the germs. Simple.
I asked one of the chemistry professors what else might be generated from this reacion. He looked up at the ceiling briefly, then flipped through the general chemistry text book. He appologised for not knowing off the top of his head before explaining that the reaction would result in a basic solution. The only thing I had to worry about was creating a solution that was too basic to drink.
I returned to my dorm room. With an air of slightly rebelious adventure, I decided I would treat my (already clean) tap water with my chlorine generating apparatus, then drink only that water for an entire day. I quickly made enough of the water for this purpose. I touched a spoonful of the water to my tongue. My tongue did not fall off. I drank a small amount. It tasted like pool water, but I decided this was nothing to worry about. The solution was ok to drink.
I drank that water for the entire day. By the end of the day I was quite sick of it. It tasted awful, and was generally unpleasant. I began to wonder if someone would be able to stand drinking it long term.
The microbiology water treatment lab was successful. The testing plate for the water from my project showed no bacterial colonies. This was quite pleasing, and I began to have dreams of saving myself and my companions from dying of diarhea in some swamp using only a AA battery and a pencil.
Some time later I sat thinking. The chlorine had not bubbled out of the solution as I had originally thought it should. I tried to think of where it could have gone, and decided that it would have bonded to the OH-. This would have made ClOH. ClOH is an acid, so it would lose a hydrogen and become ClO-. NA+ was running around. Na+ and ClO- make NaOCl. NaOCl is bleach. I had drunk beach solution for an entire day.
That was smart.
That explains the constant urinating.
I canceled my heroic visions.
Side note: making a half cup of this stuff would still be good for killing the bacteria in several gallons of water, but it's probably only wise to use it in emergiency situations.
Side note side note: this is the fist post I have made in this blog that has anything whatsoever to do with chemistry.
posted by Milton at 1:27 PM
2 Comments:
you do not know me but I am a friend of Kate Kilbourn. I currently attend AUC and see told me to read your blog because you were a very interesting and funny person. I couldn't agree more, the post before this last one was hilarious, but I may offer a suggestion to you about your water treatment. After making a bleach solution, possibly reacting the water with a HCL soln of a very small molarity would get rid of most of the sodium hypochlorite...I believe. I don't know what you could do after that though. Keep writing I enjoy it very much
Isn't Chlorine Gas toxic?? -ummm... Lol! I am impressed that Le Woods came back to your blog... I was trying to describe you to him (Natasha in our Animal Bio class was talking about you as my ... genius friend that said something strange to her and was very entertaining.)So I showed him your blog. Now then Mike meet Chris etc etc so on and so forth.I really wish there was a class with you two smarty britches in it. It would amuse me to no end. You make me smile-
If you saved me from diarrhea in a swamp.. it would be so cool, just as long as you save me from the crocs too. Usually its a good idea not to drink experimental solutions.....It pleases me that you are not dead.
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