Re: [VO]: When push comes to shove

[RC Macaulay]

Grimer wrote..     Indeed, the LLNL team measures water flow     rates up to 10,000 times faster than would     be predicted by classical equations, which     suggest that flow rates through a pore will     slow to a crawl as the diameter drops.     "It's something that is quite counter-intuitive,"     says LLNL chemical engineer Jason Holt, whose     findings appeared in the 19 May issue of     Science. "As you shrink the pore size, there     is a huge enhancement in flow rate."     ================================================= That's not just huge, that's BLOODY ENORMOUS! and it shows existing theory is 4 orders of magnitude up the creek without a paddle. A nanotube is a 2-dimensional Casimir plate. I reckon that they have got down to the dimensions at which huge Beta-atmosphere negative pressures (Beta-atm. vacua) are showing up - in other words the 8th power law is kicking in. If you reduce Beta-atmosphere pressure to that extent you might expect the viscosity to drop and the material to completely restructure itself. Reimpose the pressure and we are left with something far more viscous than the original which contains enormous built in strain energy. We have here a phenomena well known to material scientists and concrete heads. It's called HYSTERESIS. Howdy Frank, Classic vortex phenonema. Notice the mention of a reduction of throat size. Vortex in action.. Schauberger identified the action taking place.. it accelerates. Thats the good news. The bad is carbon nano technology is in danger of being " oversold". The risk in using the screens for desal is " clogging" and resistance to backwashing. DuPont worked out the problem years ago with their membrane with an easy way to backwash. Not so with nanotech. They have a hundred miles left to go before they have a useable, workable, cost effective nano screen. Once that point is reached.. the next impossible problem arises.. how to disinfect a nanotube.. the buildup of bacteria and viruses play hide and seek in nanotubes. Along with the bacteria lurks an entirely new nightmare.. steroids, birthcontrol pills, antibiotics, drugs combinants and a few even stranger derivatives that love to lurk in impossible places. We have stuff entering our raw water sources that defy disinfection except a partial solution using a wide range of "mixed oxidants". Pour a bucket of raw water into a bottle of bleach and later watch the culture grow.. wow! We are in the business and yes, it keeps water treatment plant specialists awake at night. Our small firm works tirelessly and we keep falling further behind. We believe we have less than 5 years for the industry to get a handle on the situation before it's gets totally outa hand..We had our warning some 5-7 years ago with the "virus from hell" situation in the North Carolina estuaries caused by hog farm wastewater runoff ( since remedied hopefully).. Asian flu and it's bird flu cousin all stem from swine diseases that crossover via fowl. Ya can't get a certain people to farm or eat a hog.. ever wonder why? Richard