21–30 of 62 posts
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London's water supply is pretty heavily chlorinated. Wouldn't that surpress bacterial activity?
I doubt that. To me, London tap water never tasts like chlorine, I suspect it's chlorinated much less than most tap water in the US.
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Fluorine is an additive to prevent teeth decay; chlorine or chloramine is to prevent disease in the water. Both are routinely added in the US.
Exactly. Worth adding if you live in USA and have a chance to visit your local water treatment plantation (they always welcome visitors), go see their state-of-the-art system for treating water. What I didn't know is that there is very complicated system that forbids flushing water back into the central system to poison it. The idea is that a terrorist could plug themselves into pipe and inject poison that will trave…
Does anyone know why the fat doesn't get broken down by bacteria; why doesn't it just rot away?
Fat doesn't decompose very readily - which is why it's commonly used to seal jars of meat products like terrine and pâté. In anaerobic conditions, you get hydrolysis of fat, in which the water content is removed and the fats end up saturated and indigestible further by anaerobic processes. Cf. Corpse Wax. In aerobic conditions, they'll be broken down into aldehydes and ketones. I'm guessing that the interior of a mon…
Here's a great example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdKzWQOVET4
Does anyone know why the fat doesn't get broken down by bacteria; why doesn't it just rot away?
I understand that there are two things: first, it's not just fat – it's fat plus nappies plus wipes plus sanitary goods. Second, the combination of the fat with metallic salts in the water causes saponification, so you end up with some kind of calcium-magnesium soap mixed in with it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fluorine is an additive to prevent teeth decay; chlorine or chloramine is to prevent disease in the water. Both are routinely added in the US.
Exactly. Worth adding if you live in USA and have a chance to visit your local water treatment plantation (they always welcome visitors), go see their state-of-the-art system for treating water. What I didn't know is that there is very complicated system that forbids flushing water back into the central system to poison it. The idea is that a terrorist could plug themselves into pipe and inject poison that will trave…
The reality is that if you have people equipped to poison the water supply, they will be able to. Most water systems have multiple interconnects with neighboring systems to allow exchange of treated water. Security is typically nonexistent.
The good news is that that type of attack isn’t particularly useful as a terrorist event and is likely low risk.
Pour it in an empty milk carton or whatever and throw it in the household trash. And pour a full kettle of boiling water down your kitchen sink drain once in a while, it'll prevent fat from collecting and it'll kill any nasty smells, too.
E: "Ninety three per cent of its complex structure was said to consist of the element “wet wipe”"
And don't flush wet wipes! Why do people still think this is OK?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fat doesn't decompose very readily - which is why it's commonly used to seal jars of meat products like terrine and pâté. In anaerobic conditions, you get hydrolysis of fat, in which the water content is removed and the fats end up saturated and indigestible further by anaerobic processes. Cf. Corpse Wax. In aerobic conditions, they'll be broken down into aldehydes and ketones. I'm guessing that the interior of a mon…
Fat is such a fantastic store of energy I am really surprised nothing evolved to eat it in this form.
And this is why you never wash cooking oil or fats down the drain. If they don't clog your drains, they will collect like this and cause huge problems in sewers and water treatment plants. Pour it in an empty milk carton or whatever and throw it in the household trash. And pour a full kettle of boiling water down your kitchen sink drain once in a while, it'll prevent fat from collecting and it'll kill any nasty smell…
Because it literally says "flushable" on them?
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Leaving water out for 24 hours will get rid of chlorine, so will boiling. Did your process involve either of those?
Leaving it to stand works for chlorine, but not for chloramine, which a lot of tap water is treated with now instead. One would have to check with one's supplier.