Uncle John’s Fast-Acting Long-Lasting Bathroom Reader (50 page)
Read Uncle John’s Fast-Acting Long-Lasting Bathroom Reader Online
Authors: Michael Brunsfeld
Burning question: Did you ever wonder how fire works? We did. Here’s what we found
.
H
OT TOPIC
The scientific definition of fire is “a rapid, persistent chemical reaction that releases heat and light, especially the exothermic combination of a combustible substance with oxygen.” That chemical reaction is called
oxidation
, which happens when oxygen atoms in the atmosphere combine with atoms “borrowed” from other elements, in this case, from fuel. (Another form of oxidation: rust—it’s just a lot slower.) For fire to occur, three ingredients must be present:
•
An oxidizing agent
. Can come from a pure oxygen source (like a welding tank) or, more commonly, the air. All that’s needed is an atmosphere of at least 16 percent oxygen; normal air is about 21 percent.
•
Fuel
. Can be anything from a solid (wood, plastic, or wax), to a liquid (gasoline or alcohol), or a gas (propane).
•
A heat or ignition source
. Could be lightning, friction (as when striking a match), focused light, or a chemical reaction.
YOU’RE FIRED
For oxidation to take place, the fuel must be heated to a certain temperature, known as the
ignition temperature
. It’s different for different substances: paper’s ignition temperature, for example, is 451°F. When a fuel reaches its ignition temperature, a chemical reaction occurs that begins to decompose it into flammable gases known as
volatiles
. Some solids, like wood, go directly from solid to gas, while others, like wax, go from solid to liquid and then to gas. This depends on the chemical makeup of the fuel. In either case, the volatiles then violently interact with the oxygen in the atmosphere—that’s called
combustion
.
Using a candle as an example, when you apply a burning match (the ignition source) to the wax on the wick (the fuel), the wax will heat to a certain temperature (the ignition temperature). It will begin to evaporate and release gases (the volatiles), which then react with the oxygen in the air (combustion). Result: fire.
What U.S. state has more than 40 active volcanoes? Alaska.
The heat from the fire will then cause the wax to keep melting and moving down the wick, evaporating, igniting, and burning away. Because the fire then produces its own heat—a necessary ingredient—it’s called a
persistent
chemical reaction.
EXTINGUISHED
You already know how to put out a candle—but do you know why it goes out? When you blow out a candle, the wax has cooled below its ignition temperature. If it didn’t go out, you didn’t lower the temperature enough—or for long enough. Try pressing the wick between your thumb and finger. The fire will go out because you removed the fuel source by stopping the wax from climbing up the wick. Or put a glass over the candle, taking away the oxygen.
With larger fires, it’s usually difficult to take away the fuel, so fire extinguishers work by eliminating either the oxygen, the heat, or both.
Water extinguishers
work by cooling the fuel;
dry powder extinguishers
work by smothering the fire, thereby taking away the oxygen;
foam extinguishers
both smother and cool the fuel; and
carbon dioxide extinguishers
displace the oxygen in the air while simultaneously cooling it.
MORE FACTS
• Spontaneous combustion occurs when a fuel reaches its ignition temperature without the aid of an outside ignition source. This can happen because some substances naturally react with oxygen in the air, but most often it’s from
spontaneous heating
, a slow buildup of heat. A cause of many house fires is the spontaneous heating of oily rags. If there is insufficient ventilation—like in the back of a garage—the heat can build up enough for fire to occur.
• Hot fact: You can’t have fire without oxygen, right? Wrong. All that’s necessary is an
oxidizing agent
, meaning an element that easily takes electrons from other atoms. Oxygen is the most common agent, which is why the reaction is called “oxidation.”
Fluorine
, however, is the strongest known oxidizer—much stronger than oxygen. Used in the production of atomic bombs and rocket fuel, fluorine can cause substances like steel or glass to instantly burst into flame. And those flames are virtually impossible to put out.
Man of steel: Ty Cobb had a .22 bullet lodged in his left shoulder.
More people who made it into the
Guinness Book of World Records
and probably wish they hadn’t
.
W
ORST STUDENT DRIVER
On August 3, 1970, Miriam Hargrave, 62, of Yorkshire, England, finally passed her driving test…on her 40th attempt. After so much effort, did she start driving right away? Nope. Hargrave had spent so much money on her driving lessons—$720 was a lot of money in 1970—that she couldn’t afford to buy a car.
OLDEST SURGERY PATIENT
James Henry Brett Jr. was 111 years and 105 days old when he had hip surgery in Houston in November 1960. He died four months later (from old age, not from the surgery).
SHORTEST MARRIAGE
On September 11, 1976, 39-year-old Robert Neiderhiser dropped dead at the altar just after he and his fiancée, Naomi Nicely, were pronounced man and wife at a Presbyterian church in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.
SLOWEST-SELLING PUBLISHED BOOK
In 1716 the Oxford University Press printed 500 copies of a book titled
Translation of the New Testament from Coptic into Latin
, by David Wilkins. It took 191 years to sell them all.
FARTHEST-FLYING HUMAN PROJECTILE (involuntary)
On December 6, 1917, a ship loaded with munitions exploded in the harbor at Halifax, Nova Scotia, killing more than 1,900 people. It was the largest man-made explosion of the pre-nuclear age. One man, William Becker, was lucky: He was in a rowboat about 300 feet away from the ship when it exploded, propelling him 1,600 yards—the length of 16 football fields—across the harbor. He swam to safety and lived until 1969.
Polar bears have been known to swim more than 100 miles from shore.
More examples of people and bathrooms making beautiful music together
.
H
onoree:
Paul Moghadan, who owns the Chevron gas station in West Covina, California, 20 miles east of L.A.
Notable Achievement:
Created the best gas station restroom in America, perhaps in the world
True Story:
When Moghadan started at Chevron in 1966, they told him that keeping the gas station bathroom clean and well stocked should be his highest priority. He took the message to heart…and when the time came for him to remodel his restroom in 1992, he had his brother, an architectural designer, come up with something special.
Moghadan’s brother delivered. If you ever have to make a pit stop in West Covina, be sure to stop at the Chevron: you’ll see silver columns, marble counters, stone tile, and even a chandelier. The job cost $5,000 more than a typical remodel, but Moghadan says he averages 20 compliments a day and business at the gas station is booming. People even bring their relatives in to see the bathroom. “It’s the best restroom I’ve ever seen,” said Jose Montes, who lives in town. “You feel like you’re rich when you’re in there.”
Honoree:
Archaeologists working for English Heritage, an organization that renovates old castles and other important historic sites
Notable Achievement:
Finding England’s most important bathroom
True Story:
In May 2005, the archaeologists were restoring Bolsover Castle in northern England when they unsealed an outbuilding that had been blocked off for more than a century. Inside was a large room, thought to have been the bathroom, and a smaller room that was used to heat the bathwater. What makes them so sure the rooms were once used for bathing? A small hole in the wall that connects the two rooms is very similar to one in a nearby well house; they think the holes were used to run a lead pipe from the well house to the bathroom.
Ted Turner owns about 2% of New Mexico.
The castle was once the home of Sir William Cavendish (1593–1676), who was exiled to Paris at the end of the English Civil War. It was in Paris that Cavendish picked up the habit of regular bathing, which hadn’t been common in England since the fall of the Roman Empire a thousand years before. Historians have long credited him for starting a “bathing room” fad when he returned home from exile, but it’s only now that they’ve found the bathing room that started it all.
Honoree:
Michael Zinman, a businessman, book collector, and supporter of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia
Notable Achievement:
Donating money to help pay for the Van Pelt Library’s men’s rooms…and not being shy about it
True Story:
If you’re ever in the library and need to make a standing pit stop, you’ll notice a silver plaque posted at eye level above the urinal. It reads: “The relief you are now experiencing is made possible by a gift from Michael Zinman.” The plaques were installed above each urinal at Zinman’s request. “I have a warped sense of what the world is like, and I am poking barbed gentle fun at society,” Zinman said. (The library also has a plaque next to the spot where President Gerald Ford once got stuck in the elevator.)
Honoree:
The city of Hampton, Virginia
Notable Achievement:
Creating new life with old toilets
True Story:
In 2000 the city began a program to collect old toilets, sinks, and other porcelain fixtures that could be used to rebuild oyster beds in the nearby Back River that have been damaged by pollution and disease. The city collected fixtures for about two years, then smashed them into pieces about the size of oyster shells (baby oysters like to attach themselves to mature oyster shells) and built an artificial reef in the Back River.
In 2004 scientists examined the reefs to see if the oysters were putting the toilets to good use. Sure enough, they were—in samples taken from the reefs, just as many baby oysters had attached themselves to the toilet shards as had attached themselves to real oyster shells. “Really, anything that’s made into the size of a shell, is hard, and doesn’t float, oysters will find it and grow there just fine,” says Jim Wesson, the director of oyster restoration at the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.
The Pentagon was built with twice as many bathrooms as needed (because of segregation).
You may think being the tallest guy in the room is a great thing. Here’s the story of a man who probably wouldn’t agree
.
T
ALL TALE
On February 22, 1918, Addie Wadlow gave birth to an 8
1
/2-pound baby boy in the town of Alton, Illinois. She and her husband, Harold, named him Robert.
The boy was normal-sized at birth, but he didn’t stay that way for long: by the time he was six months old, he weighed 30 pounds (twice as much as a typical six-month-old weighs). By 18 months, he weighed 62 pounds. In the first two years of Robert’s life, his parents—and apparently even his doctors—didn’t think there was anything particularly odd about the rapid growth. They just thought he was a naturally big kid who was growing earlier than most kids. Sooner or later, they figured, his growth would slow down and his peers would catch up.
BIG KID
That notion could not have lasted long. By the time Robert was five years old, he stood 5'4" tall, just seven inches shorter than his father, and wore clothing made for a 17-year-old. He passed his father in height before he turned eight, and by nine Robert could carry his dad up the stairs of the family home.
What was it that caused Robert to grow at such an astonishing rate? Ironically, it was caused by one of the smallest organs in the human body: the pituitary gland, a pea-sized organ located in the center of the skull, just beneath the brain. Robert’s pituitary gland was producing too much growth hormone. Today pituitary abnormalities can be treated with surgery and hormone therapy, but in the early 1920s things were different. When Robert was 11, a doctor told the family that attempting such surgery would probably kill the boy, so the Wadlows gave up on that idea and focused on giving their son as normal a childhood as possible.
Patriotic fact: Bald eagles can swim.
THE BIG TIME
As a young boy, Robert naturally turned heads wherever he went. (He once terrified a department store Santa when he ran after him to tell him what he wanted for Christmas.) But he remained virtually unknown outside the small community of Alton until 1927, when he visited St. Louis with his father and caught the eye of some newspaper reporters. The reporters measured and weighed the third-grader (he was 6'2½" and 180 pounds) and published several photos in the
Globe-Democrat
.
The pictures were picked up by the Associated Press and published in newspapers all over the country, and Robert became one of the most famous kids in the United States. Visitors began trekking to Alton in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the world’s biggest little boy. People would park their cars outside his elementary school just to watch him walk home from school. When he passed their car they’d drive down a few hundred feet, park the car, and watch Robert walk by again. Some people followed him all the way home.
