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Brief status
Aug. 23rd, 2010 09:12 pmI still need to put yarn into a mordant bath tonight and let it soak until tomorrow.
The strange tower like construction I noted along highway 23 last week has acquired another feature today: a tall, cylindrical pressure tank shrouded with what looks like stainless steel or possibly polished aluminum. I start to suspect that the structure is a fractional distillation plant for producing liquid nitrogen and/or oxygen. Why they would choose that location I have no idea, but I can't come up with any other explanation for the structure or the way in which they've cleared everything within an eighth of a mile or so. Glad I'm not their neighbor. Since the process requires very high pressure and lots of electricity to run the compression system, I'd have thought they would locate in a more industrial area. However, the air may be somewhat cleaner here (or at least easier to clean, as the contaminants are probably dust for the most part where an industrial region would have all sorts of pollutants in the air. The air must be compressed and chilled down to -200F, then warmed slowly. The nitrogen boils off first at about -196F, leaving mostly liquid oxygen and argon. The oxygen boils off at -183F, and the argon somewhat warmer than that. The residue is made up of trace amounts of various heavier constituents. Liquid nitrogen is marketable for industrial purposes and other uses, including the manufacture of fertilizer. The oxygen is more hazardous, as it not only freezes things on contact like the nitrogen, but sparks into flame and explodes readily. Argon and nitrogen are used inside various light bulbs and tubes. Dry ice or pressurized carbon dioxide can also be produced as by-products and are marketable commodities.
Mosquito population is dropping now, and dry weather is forecast for the next week or more, which will help. I seem to have acquired a lot more bites than I realized while gathering goldenrod flowers. I still need more. This morning I spotted one of our volunteer gardeners working in the wildflower plot and thought she was pulling goldenrod. I went out to ask her, but it turned out to be primrose once I got closer. She pointed out some areas with goldenrod in them, though, and told me to pull or cut as much as I want.
The strange tower like construction I noted along highway 23 last week has acquired another feature today: a tall, cylindrical pressure tank shrouded with what looks like stainless steel or possibly polished aluminum. I start to suspect that the structure is a fractional distillation plant for producing liquid nitrogen and/or oxygen. Why they would choose that location I have no idea, but I can't come up with any other explanation for the structure or the way in which they've cleared everything within an eighth of a mile or so. Glad I'm not their neighbor. Since the process requires very high pressure and lots of electricity to run the compression system, I'd have thought they would locate in a more industrial area. However, the air may be somewhat cleaner here (or at least easier to clean, as the contaminants are probably dust for the most part where an industrial region would have all sorts of pollutants in the air. The air must be compressed and chilled down to -200F, then warmed slowly. The nitrogen boils off first at about -196F, leaving mostly liquid oxygen and argon. The oxygen boils off at -183F, and the argon somewhat warmer than that. The residue is made up of trace amounts of various heavier constituents. Liquid nitrogen is marketable for industrial purposes and other uses, including the manufacture of fertilizer. The oxygen is more hazardous, as it not only freezes things on contact like the nitrogen, but sparks into flame and explodes readily. Argon and nitrogen are used inside various light bulbs and tubes. Dry ice or pressurized carbon dioxide can also be produced as by-products and are marketable commodities.
Mosquito population is dropping now, and dry weather is forecast for the next week or more, which will help. I seem to have acquired a lot more bites than I realized while gathering goldenrod flowers. I still need more. This morning I spotted one of our volunteer gardeners working in the wildflower plot and thought she was pulling goldenrod. I went out to ask her, but it turned out to be primrose once I got closer. She pointed out some areas with goldenrod in them, though, and told me to pull or cut as much as I want.
