Rough sleepless night in Kenyan paradise: Didn't know that arc-welding can cause one's eyes to itch terribly all night as if sand had been poured in them; ouch! Is it the shock to the eyes from the bright arc, or the fumes? Consolation is that we've now built 4 different types of systems; working with the kids was fun too!
Thomas Henry Culhane
The kids are holding are latest development in the pursuit of creating "bacterial fuel rods". Whereas in Germany we filled nylon filter socks with bio-block plastic balls, here the kids (one a Masai youth and the other the son of wildlife photographers; the man in red is our friend Edwin) and I and Hanna cut 2 inch pipes into lengths the height of... See More the gas collectors, roughed them up with sandpaper and knife blades to make place for the bacteria to adhere and form biofilms and then cut "calliope" or "pipe organ" holes in them to allow food to get in and methane bubbles out. Placed vertically in the tank they not only provide vertical surface area for the growth of many different kinds of microbe films (assumedly permitting psychrophiles to thrive at the cold bottom, mesophiles in the interior and thermophiles at the hot top of the tank) but act as support poles for the telescoping gas collector so we don't have to build an outer cage to constrain it. Collective intelligence always creates great innovations when people from different cultures and age groups mingle ideas on mutually beneficial environmental projects!
April 7 at 10:04pm ·
Isabel A. M. Cole
Yeah, no goggles while welding can do serious damage to the eyes. At school where they are building behind a fence they have signs all over the place not to look at the welding with the bare eye.
April 8 at 4:50am ·
Marcel Lenormand
Ouch. I know that feeling.
I used to do a little mig welding for a saturday job. The common practice when tacking was to cover the arc with a gloved hand. Being lazy I tried just closing my eyes. It worked fine until later that day my eyes wanted to climb out of my head!
I understand it's radiation from the arc, not just the bright light.
Go carefully! And God bless you!
I used to do a little mig welding for a saturday job. The common practice when tacking was to cover the arc with a gloved hand. Being lazy I tried just closing my eyes. It worked fine until later that day my eyes wanted to climb out of my head!
I understand it's radiation from the arc, not just the bright light.
Go carefully! And God bless you!
April 13 at 12:15pm ·
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