June 2019-Mountain Lifestyle-Running Springs Edition

Comparison of the liquid water volume of Earth, Europa and Titan to
scale. Only liquid water is considered in these estimates but water ice is
also significantly present in Europa and Titan. Photo courtesy of NASA.
The Universe’s Most Magical Compound
by Steven Peter
Water shouldn’t be wet and
why water is so amazing
Water shouldn’t really be
wet! It shouldn’t be a liquid; it
should be a gas. After all, all other
similar molecules are gases at
room temperature. Water—beyond
its obvious life-giving properties is
truly astonishing.
Water is the most common
compound in the cosmos. Water
usually takes the form of ice or gas,
arrayed beautifully. All lightweight
molecules are gasses: carbon dioxide,
methane. From hydrogen to
oxygen, all molecules or this size
and weight are gasses at room temperature.
But here on Earth, it mostly
shows itself in its rarest form: liquid.
Cosmically speaking, the rings
of Saturn are countless ice chunks;
Comet tails are mostly water vapor
and most stars are surrounded by
steam.
Gaseous water is invisible.
Clouds are not vapor, but countless
tiny liquid droplets. And that twoinch
transparent gap between a teapot’s
spout and the white “steam”—
that’s the actual vapor. The white
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stuff commonly called “steam” really
isn’t. Steam is invisible. The
white cloud leaving the teapot is
merely where tiny liquid droplets
are starting to appear due to condensation.
Why is water liquid on earth?
This liquid water phase only
exists in an extremely narrow temperature
range, and even that is not
enough! The H2O molecule must
also sit under pressure, supplied
on this planet by our atmosphere’s
weight.
Only then do you get its
transparent liquid type magic. Next
time you hold a glass of water, remember
two-thirds of its contents
are pure hydrogen, which composes
most of the cosmos. Hydrogen
normally is incapable of holding
our attention for more than a few
moments in a chemistry lab but
has managed to make us amazed
only a few times in our lives. When
the Hindenburg Zeppelin and later
the Challenger capsule exploded,
those horrible spectacles were actually
demonstrations of the simplest
chemistry lesson. Here was
hydrogen releasing itself from a
man-made cage to find its way to
its favorite companion, oxygen.
The result is water, so that during
the explosions the white billowing
“smoke” surrounding both dying
airships was simply a cloud.
That drinking glass’s other
component, oxygen, is much heavier
than hydrogen. Atom by atom,
oxygen is sixteen times more massive.
Even though there are twice as
many hydrogen atoms as oxygen in
water, seven-eighths of the water’s
weight is oxygen. Since your body
is mostly water, two-thirds of your
own weight is pure oxygen also as
well as most warm-blooded animals.
And you would also include
the Moon in this. When coyotes
howl, it’s basically a case of oxygen
howling at oxygen.
Water’s strangest characteristic
Water’s strangest characteristic is
this: The two hydrogen atoms chemically
bonded to one oxygen atom
that comprise water are not linked
in a straight line (180 degrees) but
at an angle of 105 degrees.
This fact alone has made
life on earth possible (and perhaps
on endless other worlds as well).
The angle of 105 degrees gives the
oxygen portion has a more negative
attraction and the hydrogen portion
a more positive attraction. This results
in water molecules aligning
themselves. The oxygen of one will
bond to the hydrogen of the next
in a network of weak connections.
So instead of being a loose mixture
of individual molecules, water is a
matrix or a framework that behaves
like a much bigger structure.
This little feature has tremendous
significance. Without
such hydrogen bonding, water
would be like all the other molecules
of its size and weight—a
gas at room temperature. This odd
electrical hydrogen bonding is why
your veins and brains are filled with
fluid instead of vapor.
Water also regulates the
Earth’s temperature and there is
more fresh water in the atmosphere
than in all the rivers on the planet
combined. While water is essential
here on planet Earth, NASA has
discovered water in the form of ice
on the moon and each cubic foot of
Martian soil contains around two
pints of liquid water, though the
molecules are not freely accessible,
but rather bound to other minerals
in the soil. Water can dissolve more
substances than any other liquid including
sulfuric acid.
What is so incredible is that
life could not exist if water did not
occur as a liquid at room temperature!
Water is the most important
resource and the most common
substance found on Earth. Water is
mentioned in the second verse as
well as literally the last verse in the
Bible. Water is mentioned a total of
722 times, more often than faith,
hope, prayer, and worship.
Water is absolutely essential
to the human body’s survival. A
person can live for about a month
without food but only about a week
without water. We know so little
about water and yet we have lived
with it as an accepted fact. How did
we get so lucky or are other forces
at work? Water as it turns out, is truly
an underappreciated gift.
Tips To Help Eliminate Allergies
by Lynette Eastwood
One of the most important
first steps to help you battle allergies
is to cut down your contact
with things that trigger an attack
both outside and in your home.
Many objects inside your house
such as your sheets, even kitchen
counter tops can harbor pollen
and dust. Also, there are some easy
ways - using appliances you already
have at home - to cut down on allergy
triggers.
Dust can make you really
sick, so get rid of it. It’s easier said
than done and that’s not the only
allergen that can make you sick. If
your throat gets really itchy, ears
get itchy, eyes get really dry and
itchy you can and should do something
about it. If you love the love
fresh air – there is something else
comes in with it. This is especially
true in the mountains. The beautiful
trees outside our doors is a burst
with pollens from the trees, flowers,
shrubs, and other vegetation. With
open windows there may be a layer
of pollen collecting on your kitchen
counter tops, shelves, ceiling fans,
vents and any other object that is
open to the air.
Whether allergens come
from outside the house or in, Consumer
Reports says your appliances
can help you eliminate them. Here’s
some helpful hints:
First - clear the air. Close
the windows and use your air conditioner
instead. The A/C can also
cut humidity, limiting the growth of
mold and dust mites. But be sure to
clean the filter regularly.
For hard to reach spots, use
a do-it-yourself dust grabber. It’s
great for narrow spaces and with a
little engineering, it can help you
reach dusty cobwebs on the ceiling.
An inexpensive trick is to use
an old sock or other material and
put it on the end of a broom stick to
reach high and cumbersome objects
to reach. Use simple dust cloths on
objects in your home or office.
These allergens can settle
on the large surface of your bed.
Lynette Eastwood
Things like dust mites feed on dead
skin flakes and like to accumulate
in your bedding. Help wipe them
out by using the sanitizing cycle on
your washer which uses extra heat
to kill mites. And an extra rinse
cycle can remove even more allergens.
Another large space for allergens
to gather? Floors. Weekly
use your vacuum to pull dust mites,
mold, pollen, and animal dander out
of your carpets. It’s best to choose
one with a HEPA filter that traps
small particles and keeps them from
going back into the air.
When emptying dust from
a bag-less vacuum can release particles
back into the air - so if you
have a vacuum with a bin, take it
outside to empty it. Where it won’t
end up back in the same air you are
breathing and living in.
Lastly, a portable air purifier
may help filter pollutants in your
home. Be sure to look for ones that
use a HEPA filter - and breathe easy.
Is that yellow dust making you sneeze?
By Lynette Eastwood
Around spring time, when
you venture outside, you may notice
that everything, including your car,
plants, patio furniture have become
covered with a bright yellow dust.
You may wonder what this is and
where did it come from. You can
blame a male, that is a male species
of the pine tree living in our beautiful
mountain areas.
That yellow dust covering
everything that doesn’t move is pine
pollen. Our lovely pine trees produce
sometimes large amounts of
pollen during the spring to pollinate
the seeds of the pine cones which are
female, a rare occurrence in nature.
Unbeknown to many, pine trees have
both male and female pine cones.
Males cones are much smaller and
usually unnoticed, but their pollen
certainly is. When you find your
freshly washed car covered in yellow,
blame it on the male of the pine
species.
This pollen is not to blame
for your seasonal allergies. It is
heavy and quickly falls to the ground
which is why it coats everything.
You need to blame your sneezing
on the other trees that are producing
their own pollen at the same time.
Plants that produce windblown
pollen, many of which are
trees, make life miserable for millions
of human allergy sufferers
each year. These trees use the wind
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as their favorite means of pollen
transport to other trees of their own
species for pollination.
This pollination leads to procreation
of new trees and that’s a
good thing. Pollination is critical for
trees to reproduce but can be crippling
to some people with specific
tree allergies and asthma. If these allergy
sufferers live in areas with lots
of the wrong trees, there can be major
health issues and loss in quality
of life during peak pollen season.
With all the rain and snow
this last season, this may turn out to
be a high-allergy producing season.
Allergy sufferers can make it through
tree pollen season with a minimum
of discomfort by following some
common-sense suggestions. Minimize
outdoor activity between 5 and
10 a.m., as morning is the time when
pollen counts are usually the highest.
Keep the house and car windows
closed and use air conditioning to
stay cool. But you don’t have to stay
inside all the time either.
You need to have an awareness
of the kind of trees you live near
or the trees you plant that produce
small-sized pollen. Certain trees can
become a major allergy problem.
With this understanding, in combination
with a knowledge of allergy
producing trees, it may help make
the difference between an itch and
sneeze-free day or a day of complete
misery.
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