There may be more than 600 million metric tons of water ice sitting in craters at the moon’s north pole.
So in American, thats like what ...
25 gallons?
........ 
[the metric system is evil]
Posted on 03/02/2010 3:57:18 AM PST by James C. Bennett
There may be more than 600 million metric tons of water ice sitting in craters at the moon’s north pole.
So in American, thats like what ...
25 gallons?
........
[the metric system is evil]
:-)
DECADES ago I worked with a Mech Engineer (Pakistani) who got his degree(s) in India. He claimed India invented almost everything, including the first controlled Nuclear Fission experiment. (Enrico Fermi stole their work or something as nonsensical). Everyone basically laughed at him behind his back, kind of like your professor's remark.
But when it came to Math - that was his other degree, he knew his 'stuff'. But boy could he exaggerate when it came to India.
“Everyone basically laughed at him behind his back, kind of like your professor’s remark.”
Many years ago another professor I worked with showed me a paper from an indian journal that copied one of his publications word for word. Only the names and dates were changed. These days I have worked with many Indian scientist and I agree they are very good. India has an excellent science education system and many of their best come to the US.
I agree that this is the most important discovery. lolol
That I concur, their science /engineering schools are good any many did come here.
When i was that young whippersnapper of a draftsman back in the 1970's it seemed that all our Company could hire were Indian Mech Engineers - who worked as a draftsman just to get experience in the US. We also semi-joked that it seemed that with every airplane ticket from India to the USA, a Degree came with it (we were very un-pc back then).
Geez. I just realized I've been in the Commercial Construction Industry for FORTY (40) Years! (I guess I like it ;-) )
So boring compared to a hugh oil find on the earth.
One liter of water weighs one kilogram.
A metric ton of water is 600 million x 1000 liters of water, or 600 billion liters.
An Olympic-size swimming pool has 2.5 million liters minimum, so that’s 240,000 Olympic-size swimming pools.
A gallon is 4.546 liters, so that’s 131,984,161,900 - just under 132 billion gallons of water.
According to Wikipedia: “[US] Public water supply used 43 billion gallons (163 million m3) per day in 2000 serving 242 million people, corresponding to 21% of total water use in the same year.”
So that 132 billion gallons could supply 242 million Americans for a bit over three days. On the moon, though, that’s effectively an unlimited supply - 22 years for 10,000 people without even recycling or reclaiming a single drop of it.
You could use solar power available around the clock at the lunar poles to crack the water into hydrogen and oxygen, breathe the oxygen, and burn the hydrogen in your water heater so you can enjoy nice long hot showers in 1/6th gravity.
The ice doesn’t melt because it’s kind of shady near the lunar north pole. Like New Hampshire in winter - cuase it’s north, and summer, from the trees.
But, yeah, that’s a heck of a lot of water, for a small lunar group. Enough to run a colony until the summer of 2076, no doubt.
We need to start bottling Pure Sparkling Moon Water and selling it to libs.
Sublimation means it goes directly from solid (ice) to gas (water vapor) without first going to liquid form. One example of this that you may have seen is “dry ice” (frozen CO2) melting.
Ice will sublime in a vacuum, even if well below freezing.
//If you take water, freeze it and put it in a vacumn (like on the moon), it quickly sublimes away//
Thats what I was thinking to.
I used to work as a scientist at Nasa years ago on planetary water.
It doesn’t sublime because it is covered by a think layer of insulating dust. It cold traps in the shadowy places near the pole where the sun never shines.
It is actually very important. The presence of water makes it available as a propellant for travel to Mars etc. Its almost impossible without it. Lifting the needed amount of propellant is terribly expensive energetically.
It is also a source of oxygen. Think moon base, travel to other planets with sample return etc.
Ahhhhhhhh! You're possessed. You're speaking in tongues!
Just kidding :-)
But 'series' the metric system is a pain in the rear in Construction Engineering. I had two experiences on Fed Gubmint Bldgs with 'metrics' that were 'bad' and 'worst'.
The first 'bad one' was one where all the Equipment to be used was scheduled in metric units instead of Imperial, I had to covert them all.The second 'worst' was an entire area that was to be remodeled - 'Upgraded'. Everything was in the metric system. The equipment AND all the architectural elements; Dimensions of all the walls, length & locations, doors, ceilings, lights, etc, etc.
Not even the GC was 'metric friendly' and he was always 'beaching'. His new walls would be an inch or more off. BIG problem there when the GSA inspector came in with his Metric Tape Measure. The GC talked the inspector out of ripping down the walls and starting over. In the end, the whole new area didn't exactly match the design. And we had to do a fair amount of 'Field Measuring' (we got a T&M extra to our contract for that)
This was back in the mid to late 90's. I think since then on Construction Projects the Fed has stayed with Imperial Units. At least those were the last I saw. We did some work later on at a '(unnamed) National Laboratory' and the Fed Courthouse in Chi and those Blueprints were in Imperial.
I used to get the Construction Metrication newsletter, and what you describe sounds like some of the case-studies they presented about what NOT to do in metric construction.
Some overeducated knothead architects just went through drawings converting 16”-center stud spacing to “406.4mm” instead of specifying 400mm-center studs which fit perfectly with a standard 1200x2400mm sheet of drywall.
How would you burn the hydrogen without using the oxygen you generated at the same time?
And if you did, you would get back the same energy (minus losses) that you used to crack the water in the first place. Might as well use the electricity from solar power for heating, breathe the oxygen, and vent the hydrogen.
I’ve seen ice cubes disappear away in my refrigerator, leaving the dissolved salts as residue in the ice trays, during dry weather, below freezing point.
Do you guys know what millenium this is?... you really need to get out of the stone age and convert to the metric system.
(I’ll just slip into the fire-proof suit now :^) )
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