It’s the most popular room in the house, but did you ever think of the bathroom as a science lab? Here’s the dope on soap, a peek at the potty and lots more.
Partly cloudy, chance of showers: That’s today’s forecast for your bathroom from WMAQ-Channel 5 weatherman Brant Miller, who also hosts WGN’s Saturday night Kidsradio show. Temperature changes in the bathroom cause conditions similar to real weather where masses of cold and hot air meet. Like a sponge, air can hold only a certain amount of water. “Warm air” holds more moisture than cold air does, so if you’re in a steamy shower, you’ve got a lot of moisture.” “Once you reach the dew point, where the air is saturated, you see visible moisture. You’re making clouds.” If that indoor cloud hits a cold, solid surface, it condenses and clings in tiny droplets. A fogged-up mirror is the result.
Down the drain: Try to spot what weatherman Miller calls “the miniature tornado going down the drain.” Scientists say that water enters a drain swirling in a predictable pattern; counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere. This mini-twister action is called the Coriolis Force, and it’s related to the Earth’s rotation.
Potty pros: A godson of Queen Elizabeth I invented the flush toilet in 1589, but it’s easier to remember the English plumber who made later improvements. His name? Sir Thomas Crapper. (No lie.)
That ring thing: So you climb out of the bathtub, only to discover you’ve left a souvenir behind – sticky, icky soap crud. Don’t be too grossed out by bathtub ring, it doesn’t mean you were that dirty. It probably means you have hard water. Hard water has lots of extra minerals. You can’t usually see minerals, since water does a good job of dissolving them. But when minerals meet soap, like in your bathtub, they form deposits called soap curds. Look on the bright side: They’re on the tub, not on you.
Live from your bathtub, it’s mildew! Don’t look now, but a living organism may be growing in a warm, wet corner of your shower stall. (Add evil laugh here.) “As much cleaning as you do, as long as people take showers, there will always be a food source for mildew,” explains Mike Miller, a mycologist (fungus expert) at Argonne National Laboratory in DuPage County. Mildew feeds on carbon from shampoo and soap scum, skin flakes and the remains of other fungi. Neither plant nor animal, mildew consists of tiny organisms that show up as small black spots on the shower curtain, between tiles, or around the top of the tub. Mildew, like the mold that sometimes beats you to left-overs in the fridge, digests outside of its body by secreting enzymes to break down food to its simplest form. Then it can absorb the basic nutrients needed. (If our bodies worked that way, we’d order a Big Mac, digest first and eat later.)
It’s a gas: Someday, while pondering life’s mysteries, you’re gonna ask…what causes farts? Here’s the deal. Air trapped in the body, and needs an escape route. If it comes out one end, it can be a burp. If it comes out the other end, it’s …you got it. The gas is the product of
bacteria that live in your intestines. Pediatrician James Pollack, who practices in the western suburbs, explains: “Certain foods cause the bacteria to go to town and form gas. It’s like a fermentation process.” The same sort of bacteria played a role in breaking down organic matter millions of years ago. Today, that’s our source of natural gas to heat homes and fuel our stoves. What the gas company does is tap into buried farts produced by prehistoric bacteria.
Want more? Check your library for two great books by Linda Allison: “Blood and Guts” about our insides and “The Wild Inside” about the insides of buildings.
