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In sci.geo.geology, on Wed, 22 Feb 2006 10:48:26 GMT, George
<george@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> sez:
` "pete" <vincent@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
` news:dtgqko$dm$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
` > In sci.geo.geology, on Tue, 21 Feb 2006 10:12:44 GMT, George
` > <george@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> sez:
` >
` > ` "Bob Officer" <bobofficers@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
` > ` news:k8klv1ha4rjv24r1fk7045jk1l59jn28lk@xxxxxxxxxx
` > ` > On Tue, 21 Feb 2006 06:48:59 GMT, in sci.geo.earthquakes, "George"
` > ` > <george@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
` > ` >
` > ` >>
` > ` >>"Skywise" <into@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
` > ` >>news:11vlc6d2b4l3la4@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
` > ` >>> "George" <george@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
` > ` >>> hxwKf.781084$x96.334152@attbi_s72:">news:hxwKf.781084$x96.334152@attbi_s72:
` > ` >>>
` > ` >>> <Snipola>
` > ` >>>> Brian, you just gave me an idea. Those large transformers at the
` > ` >>>> substation near my parent's home used to blow up on a semi-annual
` > ` >>>> basis
` > ` >>> <Snipola>
` > ` >>>
` > ` >>> I wasn't thinking of that specifically, but now that you mention
` > ` >>> it, that could very well be the cause. I recall watching expose's
` > ` >>> on TV back inthe 80's and earlier about the dangers of PCB's in
` > ` >>> transformers. Seemed there were cancer clusters popping up all
` > ` >>> over that had that one thing in common. Even the 'pole pigs' on
` > ` >>> the neighborhood pole leaked, contaminating backyards.
` > ` >>>
` > ` >>> Brian
` > ` >>> --
` > ` >>> http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy,
` > Skepticism
` > ` >>> Seismic FAQ: www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html">http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
` > ` >>> Quake "predictions":
` > www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html">http://www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html
` > ` >>> Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?
` > ` >>
` > ` >>Yeah, given that I've worked on sites that were contaminated with
` > PCBs,
` > ` >>it
` > ` >>should have occurred to me sooner. Duh! Only thing is, I've looked
` > up
` > ` >>the
` > ` >>toxicological effects of PCBs and there is no mention of the kinds of
` > ` >>cancers and non-cancerous tumours that I've seen in my parents'
` > ` >>neighborhood. The worst damage it causes is liver cancer and cancer
` > of
` > ` >>the
` > ` >>bilary tract. No mention of brain tumours. The reports do suggest
` > that
` > ` >>it
` > ` >>may be a factor in other diseases. Sigh. It's never easy, and
` > rarely
` > ` >>simple, is it?
` > ` >
` > ` > PCB break down to Dioxins
` > ` >
` > ` >
` >
www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=dioxin+PCBs&btnG=Search">http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=dioxin+PCBs&btnG=Search
` > ` >
` > ` > www.noharm.org/us/pvcDehp/dioxin">http://www.noharm.org/us/pvcDehp/dioxin
` > ` >
` > ` >
` > ` > --
` > ` > Ak'toh'di
` >
` > ` Yeah, I know. Nasty stuff.
` >
` > ` George
` >
` > I'm somewhat ambivalent about the whole powerline thing (there's
` > currently
` > a row locally over a 250kV line being pushed through a nearby
` > neighbourhood). I've generally been in the camp that says look, you
` > get higher fields sitting next to your 110V lightbulb 6" from your
` > head while you read your book, but I must admit that when those
` > fields are at that strength over such distances that you can hold
` > up a 4' fluorescent lamp at night and see it lighting up from the
` > voltage difference, there are certainly going to be some sort of
` > effects going on. That said, I've tended to be of the opinion (because
` > I know much less about chemistry, biology, and toxicology, and
` > the answers are likely to be in the areas I haven't explored...)
` > that the place people should be looking is to the atmospheric
` > chemistry that is catalyzed by the corona discharges around the
` > conductors. In the particle physics HV wire chamber detectors
` > we use around here, we have to design to eliminate any chance
` > of corona discharges, beyond any electronic interference they
` > can cause, because the strange chemistry they foster (via strange
` > ions and radicals they pump out) will poison the delicate balance
` > of gases needed to maintain a situation where a charged particle
` > will cause a small burst of current in the HV field, which then
` > spontaneously quenches before an arc develops. O2 is also a
` > nasty killer for wire chambers, and because we keep it out,
` > we can see a lot of the weird results of HV discharge that
` > would otherwise be oxidized into less obvious forms. For instance,
` > we will often see, in afflicted chambers, the organic vapour
` > components of the gas mixture polymerizing with silicon apparently
` > from the fibreglas of the chamber structure, and plating onto
` > the wires as some sort of silicone glorp. What sort of species
` > might you get with atmospheric N2 and O2 and plastic insulator parts,
` > forming on the towers and drifting down, studded with active
` > radical bits? This would suggest undergrounding HV lines would
` > eliminate the problems...
` >
` Until water leaks onto them. By the way, what is a "glorp". Is that a
` professional term? lol
Well, of course. It represents nicely how we have bothered with it
enough to have it analysed with a SEM mass-spec attachment, but
not enough to try to figure out how the constituent atomic species
have managed to bond together, and into what, exactly. We also
have very nice SEM pix, kicking around. Sometimes it's a goo,
other times it's a solid, sometimes it's a smooth coating, sometimes
it's crusty like spattered plaster, and sometimes it's all
spidery whiskers tracking outward along the field lines. Mostly
it's a pain. Fortunately we've found that for some reason a
small addition of CF4 to the gas mix seems to chase it away,
and fortunately we're still allowed to use a bit of CF4 - lots
of great gas mixtures featured freons which are now verboten.
--
==========================================================================
vincent@triumf[munge].ca Pete Vincent
Disclaimer: all I know I learned from reading Usenet.
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