Astronauts hate to be outside shielded areas while they are in space, because they can be irradiated by high energy particles from the sun. The damage to their cells can lead to all sorts of diseases. NASA reports that a new method of measuring electron increases in space, can predict the arrival of ion storms by at least 7 minutes, and even by an hour. This gives space explorers and even satellites time to prepare for the crippling radiation.
As a side note, radiation shielding in space contains hydrocarbon chains. Hydrogen acts as a good radiation filter. The material it is similar to, would be your plastic shopping bags (at least that’s what I’d heard several years ago).
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Regina is drizzling today, and the drive home from Edmonton and Saskatoon last night had rain along the way. There were some lightning bolts to the south. I got a rainbow photo northwest of The Battlefords that I want to post when my trip’s photos are downloaded.
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ian | 28-May-07 at 10:24 pm | Permalink
hi saskboy,
found your blog on fuelmyblog and just dropping a note to say i’ll be headed to saskatchewan in a month today: a tiny place called Meota where my Dad grew up and is buried. my ageing mother still takes care of their summer place there and i’ll be driving her from the coast, but I’m actually coming out all the way from Germany to do this. i love getting out to the wide open spaces after the cramped style of europe.
Is your rainbow photo from around Meota? - which I know is northwest of the BattleFORDS as they like to emphasise around those parts..
Saskboy | 28-May-07 at 11:23 pm | Permalink
It may be Ian, I’ll have to look to see where I took it, as I don’t remember what town (or ghost town) it was closest to. The camera still isn’t inside and didn’t get a moment to play with photos today.
Tom | 31-May-07 at 8:14 am | Permalink
Sorry, I just love discussing chemistry so I can’t help but drop in here.
Anyway, you’re not too far from the truth about hydrocarbons but I believe there needs a bit more explanation. Hydrocarbons are organic chemical compounds (comprising of varying amounts of hydrogen and carbon atoms) and are used far more often than you think.
Example? Crude oil is basically is a slush of all different types of hydrocarbons. From this we extract all different types of stuff: ethane (we combine this with water to get real drinkable alcohol), methane, propane, butane, pentane, hexane, octane, decane, etc.
Octane is petrol (or gasoline/gas as Americans call it). Diesel is basically a mixture of the crude oils that have a high boiling temperature (I can’t get into the specifics, cos it’ll sound too complicated for now).
Plastic bags aren’t actually hydrocarbons, they’re hydrocarbon-”derived”. Have you heard of the word “polyethylene”? It’s a type of plastic, and its also known in the scientific world as polyethene. It’s “poly” and “ethene” (ethane with an ‘e’). “Many ethanes” basically. Pretty much all plastics are long chains of molecules that join together to become “poly”-something. And that’s how plastics are formed.
However, I’m unsure about how these hydrocarbons are used in the protection of space specifically. I know about insulation and other methods; I might be out of date with current knowledge…
Saskboy | 31-May-07 at 12:01 pm | Permalink
Thanks for the interesting details Tom.