this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2023
762 points (97.9% liked)
Mildly Interesting
17305 readers
448 users here now
This is for strictly mildly interesting material. If it's too interesting, it doesn't belong. If it's not interesting, it doesn't belong.
This is obviously an objective criteria, so the mods are always right. Or maybe mildly right? Ahh.. what do we know?
Just post some stuff and don't spam.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Is that an OSHA approved hand over the face to keep from breathing the poisonous gas?
I'm kind of surprised it's not hot enough to boil off all the water in that little bucket pretty quickly, bit obviously it isn't.
I'm no lavatorial expert, but I'd guess the thermal conductivity of lava is relatively low. The high temp and high mass will keep it warm for a while, but water has a pretty high conductivity and capacity on its own. The agitation is distributing the heat too, well beyond the regular convection rate.
I would guess.
I'm not thinking that "lavatorial" is the correct word.
That conjures "lavatory", which is something different.
For the science, yeah, more than enough water to cool the lava.
That's just my experience. If someone does the math, I'll love them.
If you replace the lava* with shit, the phrase still makes sense and is accurate
Was gunna say, looks like he’s looting the lava more than doing a carefully controlled scientific procedure.
OSHA completely missed the large ripped hole in the suit by his thigh..
That was from the last guy who did this job and died under mysterious circumstances. Nothing to worry about.
I really have no idea but my guess was the heat.
He might just be shielding his face from the heat. That said, I saw a little plant that almost survived the lava flow, and it was much closer than he was, so idk.
Normally when I see geologists standing around lava they have masks on, so I'd assume he has one under whatever he's got on his face. Either that or maybe he was getting a couple quick scoops and wasn't going to be standing around long enough for a mask to make a huge difference.
Could also be oil instead of water. I know they use oil to cool off blacksmithing stuff.
What surprises me is no way to carry the bucket away afterward; You would have to put your hand over the bucket, in the steam. Gloved or not, it does not seem very safe.
If it really is just getting the lava down to boiling water temperature, or even a bit higher, that thin metal handle will dissipate that heat pretty quickly. A glove should be fine.