[Robotgroup] Something to ponder ... thinking about dust storms

[Andre Lamothe]

Well, since you are on this line of computation, try and compute the average 
amount of flesh that falls off the average adult in one year, then compute 
for the household, then compute how much you breath in on average :) A 
favorite of mine :)

Andre'


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Def Egge" <robodigest at innervate.com>
To: "The Robot Group" <robotgroup at puremagic.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 08, 2008 10:16 AM
Subject: [Robotgroup] Something to ponder ... thinking about dust storms



I was watching a line of dust storms over the northwestern horizon a
few weeks back.  I got to thinking about the mass of dust suspended
in the air and how much soil was being lost on an areal basis.

Assume that only the thickness of a sheet of typing paper (0.0097 cm)
becomes airborne.

 From each 1 acre (4046.856 m^2 = 40468560 cm^2) of bare soil,
(0.0097 cm x 40468560 cm^2 = ) 392545.032 cm^3 of soil is removed.

Further assume that the average bulk density of soil = 1 gm / cm^3
(actually, that is a bit low for fine textured soils more likely to
become airborne ... 1.1 gm / cm^3  - 1.5 gm / cm^3).

That means that 392545.032 gm (392 kg) of soil is removed per
acre.  392 kg x 2.2 lb / kg = 863 lbs (probably 950 lb - 1300 lbs) of
soil removed per acre.

YMMV.  As Mark Twain is quoted, "There is something fascinating about
science.  One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a
trifling investment of fact."


-- 

All the best....

Mike

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