Tag: water

The Mpemba Effect

[podcast]https://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2010/04/The-Mpemba-Effect.mp3[/podcast] For all that we know about the physical world, there are a few phenomena that, though seemingly simple, continue to baffle us. And one of the most baffling is the Mpemba Effect. You may not know it by that name—I didn’t until I read an article on New Scientist’s website last week—but you’ve probably …

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Waves

One of the summer’s hottest movies has been The Perfect Storm, based on the best-selling book by Sebastian Junger about a massive storm off the Grand Banks in 1991 that resulted in the loss of the swordfishing boat Andrea Gail with all hands. The book is better than the movie, but the movie does let …

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Spas

  Since ancient times, humans have been in hot water–literally. Soaking in hot, mineral-laden water has long been used to ease aches and pains and even touted as a cure for far more serious conditions. The Romans and Greeks built many spas in places where hot springs bubbled to the surface, and in Europe, many …

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Desalination (1995)

“Water, water, everywhere, and all the boards did shrink; Water, water, everywhere Nor any drop to drink.” –Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner It’s one of the ironies of nature that although three-quarters of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, only a very small percentage of that water is drinkable–as the Ancient …

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Water

It’s colourless, odourless and ubiquitous, covering 74 percent of the Earth’s surface. But even though water is one of the most common substances on the planet (although it doesn’t seem that way some years in Saskatchewan), in terms of its special properties, it’s also one of the most uncommon. It’s a good thing, too, because …

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Drainage

The annoying thing about water in Saskatchewan is that we never seem to have just the right amount. There’s either too little or, more rarely, too much. This time of the year, as the snow melts, it’s usually the latter. While a lack of water is bad, a surfeit of water is often worse, as …

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Water treatment

As a kid, I always loved field trips. You not only got to leave school and take a bus ride, you also got to visit exotic places like dairy farms, museums and newspapers. One field trip that seemed to be repeated at regular intervals during my school years was to the local water treatment facility. …

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Lakes

Wherever you go in Canada, you’ll hear the question, “Are you going to the lake this weekend?” That’s more than you can say for some other phrases, like, say, “Confederation” and “cultural identity.” Lakes are, of course, depressions with water in them. Those depressions can be formed in a number of ways, from tectonic and …

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The science of swimming

  This summer, people will flock to lakes, oceans, rivers and “concrete ponds” for the express purpose of plunging themselves into the water and flailing around madly. It’s called swimming, and it’s pretty strange behavior, considering the human body is not at all designed for water locomotion. Nevertheless, it’s been going on for a very …

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Water softeners

Not long after I first moved into a house from an apartment, I woke in the night to the sound of rushing water from the basement. Groggily, I investigated, visions of finding all my boxes of junk afloat dancing in my sleep-fogged brain, only to discover that all that noise came from a cabinet-sized device …

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