Blue Ponds in Utah Desert

[Carborendum]

Really cool.

If you have Google Ear th, here is the kmz file:  Blue Ponds.kmz

[NeedleinA]

1 hour ago, Carborendum said:

Really cool

That was a fun and super interesting video. 

Edited February 10, 2021 by NeedleinA

[Vort]

I watched that recently. Veritasium is an entertaining channel.

[Traveler]

Perhaps it is interesting to note that the primary economic engine in the LDS settlement of Kirkland was the production of potash and was linked to the Kirkland Safety Society.

 

The Traveler

[Jamie123]

I remember the chemistry teacher at school showing us what happened when you dropped little bits of potassium into water. (It never did quite what that guy's experiment did though!) Some kids (not me I hasten to add, polishing my halo) used to steal sodium and potassium from the chemistry lab and throw it into puddles during recess. That was quite easy to do in those days; we were often left unsupervised in the lab, with chemicals (even bottles of nitric acid) on the shelves. Kids used to dip their pencils into it to see them smoke.

It's not the same now. At my daughter's school not even the teachers (let alone the kids!) are allowed near dangerous chemicals without orders signed in triplicate (queried, lost, found, subjected to public enquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for six months and recycled as firelighters). Every chemical cabinet has two locks, which require two different keys from two different teachers. It's exactly like the guys in the Air Force who authorize missile launches. And if the two teachers don't turn their keys at exactly the same moment, the alarm goes off and the entire school is sealed in concrete and dropped into the middle of the Atlantic ocean. 

[Traveler]

5 hours ago, Jamie123 said:

I remember the chemistry teacher at school showing us what happened when you dropped little bits of potassium into water. (It never did quite what that guy's experiment did though!) Some kids (not me I hasten to add, polishing my halo) used to steal sodium and potassium from the chemistry lab and throw it into puddles during recess. That was quite easy to do in those days; we were often left unsupervised in the lab, with chemicals (even bottles of nitric acid) on the shelves. Kids used to dip their pencils into it to see them smoke.

It's not the same now. At my daughter's school not even the teachers (let alone the kids!) are allowed near dangerous chemicals without orders signed in triplicate (queried, lost, found, subjected to public enquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for six months and recycled as firelighters). Every chemical cabinet has two locks, which require two different keys from two different teachers. It's exactly like the guys in the Air Force who authorize missile launches. And if the two teachers don't turn their keys at exactly the same moment, the alarm goes off and the entire school is sealed in concrete and dropped into the middle of the Atlantic ocean. 

This is so typical of thinking now days.  As a youth I wanted to launch a rocket into outer space.  Back then it was difficult to purchase what I needed to experiment with fuel.  Making my own potassium in small quantities is perhaps the easiest of all chemicals to come by - with the exception of gasoline.  And there was no internet in my youth.  It is sad that as much as we think we are educating our children today - few, if any learn, much of the basics of anything.  I personally believe this is the reason that in our societies today, that our upcoming generations are so confused about so many simple things in science (special note to biology), religion, politics and economics - and a great many other things.  

 

The Traveler

[mordorbund]

10 hours ago, Jamie123 said:

And if the two teachers don't turn their keys at exactly the same moment, the alarm goes off and the entire school is sealed in concrete and dropped into the middle of the Atlantic ocean. 

They could have at least had the decency to add a potassium layer on the outside.

[askandanswer]

So we cut down and burn trees to make a fertiliser that helps things grow? hmmm......

[Jamie123]

7 hours ago, askandanswer said:

So we cut down and burn trees to make a fertiliser that helps things grow? hmmm......

Plus the potassium must have been in the soil to begin with, otherwise how would it have got into the trees? Cut out the middle-man!