Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb and it is Saturday. We are back with another Vault episode. This is going to be part two of our two parter Oil and Troubled Water. This one originally published eight three, twenty twenty three. Let's dive right in.

Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb and it is Saturday. We are back with another Vault episode. This is going to be part two of our two parter Oil and Troubled Water. This one originally published eight three, twenty twenty three. Let's dive right in.

Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. My name is Robert.

Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. My name is Robert.

Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. And after a little bit of an interval, we are back with part two in our series on pouring Oil over Troubled Waters.

Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. And after a little bit of an interval, we are back with part two in our series on pouring Oil over Troubled Waters.

That's right to refresh. In the last episode, which I guess was over a week ago. At this point, we discussed several interesting mentions from ancient and medieval writings, in particular about the interaction between oil and water. We went over some of the basics about this of you know, the all idea that oil and water don't mix, and that oil in water or oil mixed around with water can create kind of this novel appearance that captivates our imagination, and we also discussed how it may have been added to stormy seas to calm them down, and it may have been used in some capacity by free divers to somehow smooth or clear or illuminate the waters they're diving in so as to better see what they're looking for.

That's right to refresh. In the last episode, which I guess was over a week ago. At this point, we discussed several interesting mentions from ancient and medieval writings, in particular about the interaction between oil and water. We went over some of the basics about this of you know, the all idea that oil and water don't mix, and that oil in water or oil mixed around with water can create kind of this novel appearance that captivates our imagination, and we also discussed how it may have been added to stormy seas to calm them down, and it may have been used in some capacity by free divers to somehow smooth or clear or illuminate the waters they're diving in so as to better see what they're looking for.

Now, that was an issue last time that I was really confused by, because it wasn't even clear to me exactly what these ancient authors were claiming. They were saying that in some sense a diver might like swim underneath the water with some oil in their mouth, and then when they needed to see better, they would like spit the oil out into the water, or I think you said in some other sources people just talked about like putting oil over their eyes before they went diving, and I couldn't understand from the original verus. We looked at, like what even the alleged method of action was there. You finally have some answers on this, right.

Now, that was an issue last time that I was really confused by, because it wasn't even clear to me exactly what these ancient authors were claiming. They were saying that in some sense a diver might like swim underneath the water with some oil in their mouth, and then when they needed to see better, they would like spit the oil out into the water, or I think you said in some other sources people just talked about like putting oil over their eyes before they went diving, and I couldn't understand from the original verus. We looked at, like what even the alleged method of action was there. You finally have some answers on this, right.

Yeah, I mean, I don't know that I'll be able to bring one hundred percent clarity to the issue. I think there's still gonna I think there may still be a certain amount of like historical telephone game going on with some of these. But I did find a great deal of clarity on this in a twenty twenty one book that I picked up titled Neither Letters nor Swimming The Rebirth of Swimming and Free Diving by John m McManamon. So this is an interesting book which it's a little harder to get your hands on this one, but it's worth picking up if you're interested in the history of diving and swimming in general. Oil comes up multiple times in the book, sometimes just in general observances of waters that were known to contain oil naturally in the ancient world. Ancient writers mentioned a spring at Carthage. There's the Laparous River in southern Turkey or what is now southern Turkey, and there's also a lake an the Opia that were singled out, all noted for oil that could either be extracted for use. In the case of Carthage, I think they used it with livestock or just waters that had a quote unquote naturally lubricating effect on the swimmer. Hmmm, sounds great now, This idea of lubricating yourself for a swim. This was This was pretty interesting to me because I swim several days a week, but I never oil myself up beforehand, and I don't see anybody else doing it either.

Yeah, I mean, I don't know that I'll be able to bring one hundred percent clarity to the issue. I think there's still gonna I think there may still be a certain amount of like historical telephone game going on with some of these. But I did find a great deal of clarity on this in a twenty twenty one book that I picked up titled Neither Letters nor Swimming The Rebirth of Swimming and Free Diving by John m McManamon. So this is an interesting book which it's a little harder to get your hands on this one, but it's worth picking up if you're interested in the history of diving and swimming in general. Oil comes up multiple times in the book, sometimes just in general observances of waters that were known to contain oil naturally in the ancient world. Ancient writers mentioned a spring at Carthage. There's the Laparous River in southern Turkey or what is now southern Turkey, and there's also a lake an the Opia that were singled out, all noted for oil that could either be extracted for use. In the case of Carthage, I think they used it with livestock or just waters that had a quote unquote naturally lubricating effect on the swimmer. Hmmm, sounds great now, This idea of lubricating yourself for a swim. This was This was pretty interesting to me because I swim several days a week, but I never oil myself up beforehand, and I don't see anybody else doing it either.

I mean wait, I was gonna ask, is that even a thing anybody does? I don't think so.

I mean wait, I was gonna ask, is that even a thing anybody does? I don't think so.

I mean, you see cases, certainly, there are cases of people lubricating their body with lotions and oils afterwards, or you know, something to that effect. But I mean, it may be I don't know if it's anything that has ever explored and say, competitive swimming. If it is, I'm not aware of it off the top of my head. But there are various mentions of oil lubricated swimmers in ancient texts. The idea that before you entered the water to swim, you'd want to rub your naked body down with oil, okay, And the reasons for this is, you know, seems to vary. So one account, during the Corinthian War in the three eighty nine BC, the Athenian forces used swimming infantry against Spartan forces near this place in Egypt, Habitus. Apparently the waters there were quite cold, so they rubbed themselves down with olive oil beforehand, and they drank a lot of alcohol before they got into the water. Now McManamon points out that, okay, the oil might have provided some insulation that actually helped protect them against the cold, but the drinking would have been counterproductive.

I mean, you see cases, certainly, there are cases of people lubricating their body with lotions and oils afterwards, or you know, something to that effect. But I mean, it may be I don't know if it's anything that has ever explored and say, competitive swimming. If it is, I'm not aware of it off the top of my head. But there are various mentions of oil lubricated swimmers in ancient texts. The idea that before you entered the water to swim, you'd want to rub your naked body down with oil, okay, And the reasons for this is, you know, seems to vary. So one account, during the Corinthian War in the three eighty nine BC, the Athenian forces used swimming infantry against Spartan forces near this place in Egypt, Habitus. Apparently the waters there were quite cold, so they rubbed themselves down with olive oil beforehand, and they drank a lot of alcohol before they got into the water. Now McManamon points out that, okay, the oil might have provided some insulation that actually helped protect them against the cold, but the drinking would have been counterproductive.

Drinking doesn't actually make you warmer. It might make you feel warmer temporarily, but right, yeah, it doesn't help.

Drinking doesn't actually make you warmer. It might make you feel warmer temporarily, but right, yeah, it doesn't help.

The General Hannibal is also said to have ordered his soldiers to oil themselves down against the cold at the Battle of Trevia River, the first major battle of the Second Punic War in two eighteen BCE. So, in general, there seems to be this idea that like, okay, you can protect yourself against the cold by covering yourself with oil, and then perhaps that would work in the water as well.

The General Hannibal is also said to have ordered his soldiers to oil themselves down against the cold at the Battle of Trevia River, the first major battle of the Second Punic War in two eighteen BCE. So, in general, there seems to be this idea that like, okay, you can protect yourself against the cold by covering yourself with oil, and then perhaps that would work in the water as well.

Okay.

Okay.

Now, on the subject of ancient free diving pearl divers, in particular in the Persian Gulf and in the waters between India and Sri Lanka, mcmaamon writes that there's a lot we don't know about their practices in the ancient world, and then they were often working with kind of sketchy ideas concerning the nature of oysters. So he mentioned this idea that you see written in some of these old texts about how oysters have leaders, and you have to take out the first oyster first. You have to find the leader, take it out first, and then the rest will follow.

Now, on the subject of ancient free diving pearl divers, in particular in the Persian Gulf and in the waters between India and Sri Lanka, mcmaamon writes that there's a lot we don't know about their practices in the ancient world, and then they were often working with kind of sketchy ideas concerning the nature of oysters. So he mentioned this idea that you see written in some of these old texts about how oysters have leaders, and you have to take out the first oyster first. You have to find the leader, take it out first, and then the rest will follow.

Okay, it's a decapitation strike against the oyster brigade.

Okay, it's a decapitation strike against the oyster brigade.

Yeah, there's also talk about you need to watch your fingers because the oysters may sever the fingers, and mcmammon casts a lot of doubt on this. I mean, I know that there are concerns with certain types of free diving and foraging for various shells and creatures. There are particular creatures where you do have to potentially worry about a you know, finger getting caught or snagged or whatever. But in this case McManamon seems to write that it was not really a concern. But basically it all drives home just how alien the environment was into which these people were venturing. Just think about just how limited you were as you gazed down into the water, as you dived into the water and tried to find whatever you were looking for. So in this particular case, they would have likely used grafts, which makes sense. And in the case of India and Sri Lanka in particular, there's apparently evidence that they made condemned criminals do the work, and I think in general it was considered dangerous work and there's some writings reflect this. Whatever the case, the clear the diving conditions, the better to see what you're doing as you go down there too and try and venture into the oyster kingdom. So mcmatamon writes, quote, if the sea was choppy, the crew would spread oil on its surface to settle it down. Modern fishermen use a similar method to improve surface visibility, pouring shark oil at times mixed with sand to settle the waters. So this is the idea that we've discussed already, or were going to continue to discuss. The idea here, I believe is that friction of the oil on the water surface keeps the surface from ruffling or breaking, at least for a short period of time.

Yeah, there's also talk about you need to watch your fingers because the oysters may sever the fingers, and mcmammon casts a lot of doubt on this. I mean, I know that there are concerns with certain types of free diving and foraging for various shells and creatures. There are particular creatures where you do have to potentially worry about a you know, finger getting caught or snagged or whatever. But in this case McManamon seems to write that it was not really a concern. But basically it all drives home just how alien the environment was into which these people were venturing. Just think about just how limited you were as you gazed down into the water, as you dived into the water and tried to find whatever you were looking for. So in this particular case, they would have likely used grafts, which makes sense. And in the case of India and Sri Lanka in particular, there's apparently evidence that they made condemned criminals do the work, and I think in general it was considered dangerous work and there's some writings reflect this. Whatever the case, the clear the diving conditions, the better to see what you're doing as you go down there too and try and venture into the oyster kingdom. So mcmatamon writes, quote, if the sea was choppy, the crew would spread oil on its surface to settle it down. Modern fishermen use a similar method to improve surface visibility, pouring shark oil at times mixed with sand to settle the waters. So this is the idea that we've discussed already, or were going to continue to discuss. The idea here, I believe is that friction of the oil on the water surface keeps the surface from ruffling or breaking, at least for a short period of time.

The question of the mechanism of how oil culmbs the water, if it does, is something I'm going to get into in a paper that I'll discuss in a minute here.

The question of the mechanism of how oil culmbs the water, if it does, is something I'm going to get into in a paper that I'll discuss in a minute here.

Yeah, but in general, it sounds like the idea that is being expressed here is like, if you can make the more you can make the surface of the water like glass, supposedly through the application of some oil, the better you can see down into where you're about to send your divers, who again are free diving without masks, etc.

Yeah, but in general, it sounds like the idea that is being expressed here is like, if you can make the more you can make the surface of the water like glass, supposedly through the application of some oil, the better you can see down into where you're about to send your divers, who again are free diving without masks, etc.

Okay, So in this case it would be a question of being able to look down into the water from the surface and see through it better.

Okay, So in this case it would be a question of being able to look down into the water from the surface and see through it better.

That's my understanding.

That's my understanding.

Yes, okay.

Yes, okay.

Now The author also discusses a legendary free diver from Italian traditions by the name of Cola pache Cola, the fish in Italian, a Mediterranean hero whose exploits holding his breath were apparently comparable to Coculon, to BeO Wolf, to King Olaff and others. I often don't think about this, but yeah, you have a lot of heroes who can really hold their breath for a long time, and you can take that into the modern area. I mean, look at Indiana Jones right then he holds his breath on that submarine or does he get in the submarine?

Now The author also discusses a legendary free diver from Italian traditions by the name of Cola pache Cola, the fish in Italian, a Mediterranean hero whose exploits holding his breath were apparently comparable to Coculon, to BeO Wolf, to King Olaff and others. I often don't think about this, but yeah, you have a lot of heroes who can really hold their breath for a long time, and you can take that into the modern area. I mean, look at Indiana Jones right then he holds his breath on that submarine or does he get in the submarine?

Oh? Wait, I know what you're talking about now. Yeah.

Oh? Wait, I know what you're talking about now. Yeah.

Anyway, in this particular case, this is an oral tradition that was written down by medieval chroniclers during the twelve century. He said to have had various adventures and was said to spend so much time in the water that he would die if he stayed on land for too long. So more fish than man in some ways. It's certainly a tall tale, to be sure, but ridings about him do contain some insight into the use of oil in free diving. Quote, while diving, Cola followed the ancients and releasing oil into the water column in order to see better. Sicilian fishermen still use that technique, especially when they are hunting octopi. In the profound abyss of the Straits of Messina, Cola reported to the sovereign that he had seen mountains and valleys, woods and fields and trees with edible fruits.

Anyway, in this particular case, this is an oral tradition that was written down by medieval chroniclers during the twelve century. He said to have had various adventures and was said to spend so much time in the water that he would die if he stayed on land for too long. So more fish than man in some ways. It's certainly a tall tale, to be sure, but ridings about him do contain some insight into the use of oil in free diving. Quote, while diving, Cola followed the ancients and releasing oil into the water column in order to see better. Sicilian fishermen still use that technique, especially when they are hunting octopi. In the profound abyss of the Straits of Messina, Cola reported to the sovereign that he had seen mountains and valleys, woods and fields and trees with edible fruits.

Like another kingdom, just like we have on land, but under the waves.

Like another kingdom, just like we have on land, but under the waves.

Exactly, which is something we've discussed before in terms of how previous generations thought about the world underwater. And I like that there's also kind of a I mean, there's a hint of truth to this as well, Like he's reporting that, hey, underneath the water, there's actually a robust ecosystem. Now, whether it's actually woods and fields and trees with edible freed, well, obviously not, but there is in a sense this rich other world down there that you can imagine a free diver being able to attest to.

Exactly, which is something we've discussed before in terms of how previous generations thought about the world underwater. And I like that there's also kind of a I mean, there's a hint of truth to this as well, Like he's reporting that, hey, underneath the water, there's actually a robust ecosystem. Now, whether it's actually woods and fields and trees with edible freed, well, obviously not, but there is in a sense this rich other world down there that you can imagine a free diver being able to attest to.

So this passage is not just talking about putting oil on the surface, but actually releasing oil down underneath the water when you are down there and again that helping to see, but this passage doesn't say why that would work if it did.

So this passage is not just talking about putting oil on the surface, but actually releasing oil down underneath the water when you are down there and again that helping to see, but this passage doesn't say why that would work if it did.

Right, And I wish again, I wish I could have one hundred percent clarity on this particular angle. I haven't found anything. It's worth noting that there are multiple factors that contribute to decreased visibility underwater. And you have particles in the water, you have salinity gradients, temperature gradients, organic particles. Just you know, issues of light and you know where the sun is positioned in the sky and how much light you're getting in a particular volume of water. Interestingly, I was reading that you know sometimes there's a visible layer between thermoclines that look like the smoothness of an oilchine. So I couldn't help, but wonder if that might factor into some of this, like things that may be encountered underwater that have the feel or look of oil separation. Now another interesting bit here on medieval pearl divers. Mcmanumon has some interesting information on oil use from the Arabic world of the time, and I want I'm going to read a longer quote here and warning that it is a little bit graphic as it includes mention of alleged body modification for the purposes of free diving. Quote. Pearl divers attempted to eliminate the pain in their ears and block their nostrils. They ruptured their own ear drum and knew they had succeeded when blood flowed out. They soaked cotton in oil and inserted it into their ears. The technique had an added benefit on the bottom, as the oil leaked out and floated up. It clarified the water column by allowing greater light to a train. For the nostrils, pearl divers had various options. They could plug the openings with small balls carved from a tortoise shell and use a cloth soaked in oil like the ones used in the ears. Alternatively, they could wear a clip over the outside of their nostrils, carved from ivory or horn or tortoise shell. The stated purpose of blocking the nostrils was to keep water out, but it may also have aided in equalizing pressure in the sinuses and ears. Professional free divers still use a nose clip, and he also mentions this at a later point in the book, as well, attributing the oil soaked cotton swabs in one's ears as being protective but also kind of having this side effect of like, well, and as the oil leaks out, you're only going to see better down there.

Right, And I wish again, I wish I could have one hundred percent clarity on this particular angle. I haven't found anything. It's worth noting that there are multiple factors that contribute to decreased visibility underwater. And you have particles in the water, you have salinity gradients, temperature gradients, organic particles. Just you know, issues of light and you know where the sun is positioned in the sky and how much light you're getting in a particular volume of water. Interestingly, I was reading that you know sometimes there's a visible layer between thermoclines that look like the smoothness of an oilchine. So I couldn't help, but wonder if that might factor into some of this, like things that may be encountered underwater that have the feel or look of oil separation. Now another interesting bit here on medieval pearl divers. Mcmanumon has some interesting information on oil use from the Arabic world of the time, and I want I'm going to read a longer quote here and warning that it is a little bit graphic as it includes mention of alleged body modification for the purposes of free diving. Quote. Pearl divers attempted to eliminate the pain in their ears and block their nostrils. They ruptured their own ear drum and knew they had succeeded when blood flowed out. They soaked cotton in oil and inserted it into their ears. The technique had an added benefit on the bottom, as the oil leaked out and floated up. It clarified the water column by allowing greater light to a train. For the nostrils, pearl divers had various options. They could plug the openings with small balls carved from a tortoise shell and use a cloth soaked in oil like the ones used in the ears. Alternatively, they could wear a clip over the outside of their nostrils, carved from ivory or horn or tortoise shell. The stated purpose of blocking the nostrils was to keep water out, but it may also have aided in equalizing pressure in the sinuses and ears. Professional free divers still use a nose clip, and he also mentions this at a later point in the book, as well, attributing the oil soaked cotton swabs in one's ears as being protective but also kind of having this side effect of like, well, and as the oil leaks out, you're only going to see better down there.

Hmmm.

Hmmm.

So I think I think all of you, even though again not one hundred percent clarity on all this, but I think some of these examples are telling. On one hand, they provide a little more insight into what some of these accounts were talking about concerning free divers bringing down oil in their mouths or even in around their eyes. We also see plenty of examples where humans would have had a chance to witness oil interacting with water whilst swimming, you know, this idea of Okay, if we had some sort of tradition of oiling your body up before you go in, then perhaps you're bringing that information with you. If there is some practice about, you know, calming the water at the surface of the water so as to better see down, then that can easily be translated into this idea of like, well, bring the oil down with you and make that clear as well. So, yeah, I think there's still some mysteries remaining here, but I think I can maybe sort of glimpse the shape of the thing a little better.

So I think I think all of you, even though again not one hundred percent clarity on all this, but I think some of these examples are telling. On one hand, they provide a little more insight into what some of these accounts were talking about concerning free divers bringing down oil in their mouths or even in around their eyes. We also see plenty of examples where humans would have had a chance to witness oil interacting with water whilst swimming, you know, this idea of Okay, if we had some sort of tradition of oiling your body up before you go in, then perhaps you're bringing that information with you. If there is some practice about, you know, calming the water at the surface of the water so as to better see down, then that can easily be translated into this idea of like, well, bring the oil down with you and make that clear as well. So, yeah, I think there's still some mysteries remaining here, but I think I can maybe sort of glimpse the shape of the thing a little better.

Okay, Well, even if the answer is still a bit elusive. I think valued effort at digging there.

Okay, Well, even if the answer is still a bit elusive. I think valued effort at digging there.

We may have to come back to this particular book in the future. He has a lot of great information about like early ideas and developments in the creation of like actual goggles and masks that would enable people to eventually see under the water with the kind of clarity were clearly reaching for.

We may have to come back to this particular book in the future. He has a lot of great information about like early ideas and developments in the creation of like actual goggles and masks that would enable people to eventually see under the water with the kind of clarity were clearly reaching for.

Oh yeah, we could do some invention coverage on on old school diving helmets, which are beautiful.

Oh yeah, we could do some invention coverage on on old school diving helmets, which are beautiful.

Now. I believe in the first episode we warned that there would be Ben Franklin, that Ben Franklin would pop up in this topic. So let's let's I see is okay, he's here? He dies. He frequently pops up on the show, especially in our invention episodes. Occasionally you didn't know that you were going to have Ben Franklin content, but then he appears.

Now. I believe in the first episode we warned that there would be Ben Franklin, that Ben Franklin would pop up in this topic. So let's let's I see is okay, he's here? He dies. He frequently pops up on the show, especially in our invention episodes. Occasionally you didn't know that you were going to have Ben Franklin content, but then he appears.

That's right. So Benjamin Franklin often known as one of the so called founding fathers of the United States. He was an early American I don't even know what what what are? What's the order that you put the things he did when you say what he was? He was an early American statesman, author, businessman, scientist, inventor. He kind of did everything.

That's right. So Benjamin Franklin often known as one of the so called founding fathers of the United States. He was an early American I don't even know what what what are? What's the order that you put the things he did when you say what he was? He was an early American statesman, author, businessman, scientist, inventor. He kind of did everything.

Yeah, just kind of a general American polymath and weird guy, you know, an Enlightenment thinker that had a great deal of curiosity about the world and entertaining those curiosities.

Yeah, just kind of a general American polymath and weird guy, you know, an Enlightenment thinker that had a great deal of curiosity about the world and entertaining those curiosities.

Now specifically in the domain of science. Benjamin Franklin, I think, is best known for his experiments with electricity, and this would include experiments with the storage and discharge of electrical potential in what we now call a battery after Franklin's terminology, like the Franklin battery was made by putting together a series of a pre existing invention called a Leiden jar, and he could He's like, oh wow, you can really like stack these things up and really pack a punch with the energy youer storing. One of these battery experiments I know we've talked about on the show before because of its weirdness, was the electrocution of a turkey for a hull dinner, which he then said was to be roasted upon an electric jack after it was electrocuted. But for some reason, Franklin believed this would make the meat especially tender and succulent. If he used electricity from one of his batteries to kill the thing, but he ended up badly shocking himself while attempting this. But on the broader subject of electricity, Franklin's electrical research also entailed work in support of the hypothesis that lightning was in fact a form of electricity, was a type of electrical discharge, and Franklin was not the first person to make this connection, but did important work investigating it. The most famous anecdote here, of course, is the one the kite and key experiment, which is in a way of disputed historical status. Franklin apparently never described himself doing this experiment in any of his letters, though I think he described the experiment in some writing as a kind of hypothetical, like this is an experiment one could do, though after his death people did say that he himself had carried it out. If he did do it, it would have been probably in June of seventeen fifty two. However, Franklin was correct about lightning being a form of electrical discharge, and this led to his advocacy of the use of sharpened iron lightning rods to protect buildings during storms. And this is kind of a tangent, but one I got interested in while reading about Franklin's lightning rod research for this episode, I wanted to share a paragraph I came across from an article from the Franklin Institute, which is a museum of Benjamin Franklin's life and work in Philadelphia, where they write, quote Franklin began to advocate lightning rods that had sharp points. His English colleagues favored blunt tipped lightning rods, reasoning that sharp ones attracted lightning and increased the risk of strikes. They thought blunt rods were less likely to be struck. King George the Third had his palace equipped with a blunt lightning rod. When it came time to equip the colony's buildings with lightning rods, the decision became a political statement. The favored pointed lightning rod expressed support for Franklin's theories of protecting public buildings and the rejection of theories supported by the king. The English thought this was just another way for the flourishing colonies to be disobedient to them, And I thought this was funny because it's an eighteenth century example of a pure scientific question, just like what's the ideal shape of a lightning rod? Where really all we should care about is what is the correct answer of this question being politicized? Now, which answer you favor has political connotations, and there is political pressure to think a certain way about it.

Now specifically in the domain of science. Benjamin Franklin, I think, is best known for his experiments with electricity, and this would include experiments with the storage and discharge of electrical potential in what we now call a battery after Franklin's terminology, like the Franklin battery was made by putting together a series of a pre existing invention called a Leiden jar, and he could He's like, oh wow, you can really like stack these things up and really pack a punch with the energy youer storing. One of these battery experiments I know we've talked about on the show before because of its weirdness, was the electrocution of a turkey for a hull dinner, which he then said was to be roasted upon an electric jack after it was electrocuted. But for some reason, Franklin believed this would make the meat especially tender and succulent. If he used electricity from one of his batteries to kill the thing, but he ended up badly shocking himself while attempting this. But on the broader subject of electricity, Franklin's electrical research also entailed work in support of the hypothesis that lightning was in fact a form of electricity, was a type of electrical discharge, and Franklin was not the first person to make this connection, but did important work investigating it. The most famous anecdote here, of course, is the one the kite and key experiment, which is in a way of disputed historical status. Franklin apparently never described himself doing this experiment in any of his letters, though I think he described the experiment in some writing as a kind of hypothetical, like this is an experiment one could do, though after his death people did say that he himself had carried it out. If he did do it, it would have been probably in June of seventeen fifty two. However, Franklin was correct about lightning being a form of electrical discharge, and this led to his advocacy of the use of sharpened iron lightning rods to protect buildings during storms. And this is kind of a tangent, but one I got interested in while reading about Franklin's lightning rod research for this episode, I wanted to share a paragraph I came across from an article from the Franklin Institute, which is a museum of Benjamin Franklin's life and work in Philadelphia, where they write, quote Franklin began to advocate lightning rods that had sharp points. His English colleagues favored blunt tipped lightning rods, reasoning that sharp ones attracted lightning and increased the risk of strikes. They thought blunt rods were less likely to be struck. King George the Third had his palace equipped with a blunt lightning rod. When it came time to equip the colony's buildings with lightning rods, the decision became a political statement. The favored pointed lightning rod expressed support for Franklin's theories of protecting public buildings and the rejection of theories supported by the king. The English thought this was just another way for the flourishing colonies to be disobedient to them, And I thought this was funny because it's an eighteenth century example of a pure scientific question, just like what's the ideal shape of a lightning rod? Where really all we should care about is what is the correct answer of this question being politicized? Now, which answer you favor has political connotations, and there is political pressure to think a certain way about it.

Well, who is right? Is it the American way or the British way?

Well, who is right? Is it the American way or the British way?

It seems in a way they were both wrong. But it seems like the English had the better. The blunt lightning rods were better overall, according to modern research. I looked up there has been modern research on this, so I found a paper by more Awlick and Risin in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology in the year two thousand and three, where they say, quote, an examination of the relevant physics shows that very strong electric fields are required above the tips of rods in order that they function as strike receptors, but that the gradients of the field strength over sharp tipped rods are so great that at distances of a few millimeters, the local fields are often too weak for the development of upward going streamers. In field tests, rods with rounded tips have been found to be better strike receptors than were nearby sharp tipped rods. Though it gets kind of complicated, so they say, overall, if you're trying to attract your lightning strikes to these rods. The blunt ones are better. But as they explained in the paper, Franklin's idea was that the purpose of a sharp tipped lightning rod was not to attract lightning, but to prevent lightning by allowing thunderclouds to sort of silently and gently discharge electricity down to the rod, without actually allowing a violent lightning strike to occur at all. Of course, it was later recognized that a lightning rod could be useful by providing just a conductive pathway to the ground, rather than simply letting the lightning find its own way to the ground through the structure of the building, which would be a lot more destructive. So the authors of this paper say that lightning rods don't actually discharge thunderclouds gently. Franklin was wrong in thinking that would happen, they say, quote it is now recognized that the sole function of a lightning rod is to be the receptor or interceptor of strikes for a lightning protection system that conducts lightning discharges to the earth without damage to the structure on which the system is mounted. So I would say Franklin was correct about the nature of lightning being electrical. He was correct that lightning rods were a good idea. He was incorrect in part about how they worked. They don't actually gently discharge lightning without a strike occurring. And he was probably incorrect about the ideal design parameters because the blunt rods, it seems, are better. But also, if you'll remember, it seems like the English were also wrong because it said that they thought the blunt rods were less likely to be struck, and they're actually better because they're more likely to be struck. So I thought that was interesting. But anyway, we should come back to a different scientific question, the one of today's episode. This was a different question that captured Franklin's attention, and so I want to cite a twenty thirteen historical science paper by Wang Stieglitz, Mardin, and Tam in the Biophysical Journal published in the year twenty thirteen called Benjamin Franklin, Philadelphia's favorite son was a membrane biophysicist. So here's the biographical context. In the year seventeen fifty seven, the American House of Assembly in Philadelphia sent Benjamin Franklin as an envoy to King George the second of Great Britain, and Franklin was traveling on one of a fleet of ninety six ships that set out to cross the Atlantic, departing from New York Harbor. Early in their journey, the fleet hit some bad weather. There were high winds and heavy waves, and the paper doesn't mention this, but I will say I've read in other sources that Franklin was very interested in storms and would sometimes chase storms on horseback. So I kind of wonder if he was out on deck observing the bad weather with joyful curiosity while everybody else is vomiting. I don't know, but whatever he was doing, he at some point made an observation. He looked out at the rest of the fleet, and he observed that a couple of the ships in the fleet appeared to be sailing much more smoothly than the rest. Everybody else is pitching back and forth violently in the waves, and a couple looked like for some rea and they weren't. They were just kind of cruising along smoothly. And Franklin mentioned this to the captain of his ship, and the captain said to him, apparently thinking that he was stupid for even asking this question, the captain said, the cooks have, I suppose, been just emptying their greasy water through the scuppers which has greased the sides of those ships a little, as if this was obvious, and explained it totally, because, as we talked about in the last episode, it had long been common knowledge among sailors that oil or grease would calm the waves.

It seems in a way they were both wrong. But it seems like the English had the better. The blunt lightning rods were better overall, according to modern research. I looked up there has been modern research on this, so I found a paper by more Awlick and Risin in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology in the year two thousand and three, where they say, quote, an examination of the relevant physics shows that very strong electric fields are required above the tips of rods in order that they function as strike receptors, but that the gradients of the field strength over sharp tipped rods are so great that at distances of a few millimeters, the local fields are often too weak for the development of upward going streamers. In field tests, rods with rounded tips have been found to be better strike receptors than were nearby sharp tipped rods. Though it gets kind of complicated, so they say, overall, if you're trying to attract your lightning strikes to these rods. The blunt ones are better. But as they explained in the paper, Franklin's idea was that the purpose of a sharp tipped lightning rod was not to attract lightning, but to prevent lightning by allowing thunderclouds to sort of silently and gently discharge electricity down to the rod, without actually allowing a violent lightning strike to occur at all. Of course, it was later recognized that a lightning rod could be useful by providing just a conductive pathway to the ground, rather than simply letting the lightning find its own way to the ground through the structure of the building, which would be a lot more destructive. So the authors of this paper say that lightning rods don't actually discharge thunderclouds gently. Franklin was wrong in thinking that would happen, they say, quote it is now recognized that the sole function of a lightning rod is to be the receptor or interceptor of strikes for a lightning protection system that conducts lightning discharges to the earth without damage to the structure on which the system is mounted. So I would say Franklin was correct about the nature of lightning being electrical. He was correct that lightning rods were a good idea. He was incorrect in part about how they worked. They don't actually gently discharge lightning without a strike occurring. And he was probably incorrect about the ideal design parameters because the blunt rods, it seems, are better. But also, if you'll remember, it seems like the English were also wrong because it said that they thought the blunt rods were less likely to be struck, and they're actually better because they're more likely to be struck. So I thought that was interesting. But anyway, we should come back to a different scientific question, the one of today's episode. This was a different question that captured Franklin's attention, and so I want to cite a twenty thirteen historical science paper by Wang Stieglitz, Mardin, and Tam in the Biophysical Journal published in the year twenty thirteen called Benjamin Franklin, Philadelphia's favorite son was a membrane biophysicist. So here's the biographical context. In the year seventeen fifty seven, the American House of Assembly in Philadelphia sent Benjamin Franklin as an envoy to King George the second of Great Britain, and Franklin was traveling on one of a fleet of ninety six ships that set out to cross the Atlantic, departing from New York Harbor. Early in their journey, the fleet hit some bad weather. There were high winds and heavy waves, and the paper doesn't mention this, but I will say I've read in other sources that Franklin was very interested in storms and would sometimes chase storms on horseback. So I kind of wonder if he was out on deck observing the bad weather with joyful curiosity while everybody else is vomiting. I don't know, but whatever he was doing, he at some point made an observation. He looked out at the rest of the fleet, and he observed that a couple of the ships in the fleet appeared to be sailing much more smoothly than the rest. Everybody else is pitching back and forth violently in the waves, and a couple looked like for some rea and they weren't. They were just kind of cruising along smoothly. And Franklin mentioned this to the captain of his ship, and the captain said to him, apparently thinking that he was stupid for even asking this question, the captain said, the cooks have, I suppose, been just emptying their greasy water through the scuppers which has greased the sides of those ships a little, as if this was obvious, and explained it totally, because, as we talked about in the last episode, it had long been common knowledge among sailors that oil or grease would calm the waves.

All right, Well, now Ben Franklin has been tipped off and is on the case right.

All right, Well, now Ben Franklin has been tipped off and is on the case right.

Right, He's like, oh, I need to get me some of that rancid cooking grease. Figure out what's so special about it. So the authors of the paper here they go over some of the things we talked about in the previous episode that since ancient times, authors have mentioned this here and there, this practice of pouring oil, sometimes olive oil, on top of the sea to calm the waters during storms. Remember that, though we don't have Aristotle's original writing on this subject, the Roman historian Plutarch attributed a view to Aristotle that quote, the oil produces calm by smoothing the water's surface so that wind can slip over it without making an impression. So when the captain told Franklin this He's like, oh, yeah, they emptied their nasty grease into the water after they're done cooking, and it's greasing the side of the ship and the water around it, so that's making the waves calm. Franklin suspected that this explanation was wrong. He doubted that greasing the outside of the ship would actually calm the water around it, but the observation captured his curiosity, especially since it reminded him of experiences playing with wax in his father's soap factory when he was ten years old, and he observed the same phenomenon several more times during voyages across the ocean, so he decided at some point that he should make experiments to better understand this. He finally got around to it twelve years later in seventeen sixty nine during another visit to Great Britain. So Franklin was staying in an area called Clapham Common in South London, and together with a friend of his name, Christopher Baldwin, Franklin made his way to a local pond and started just dumping oil in it. To quote from Franklin's own description of his experiments at the length being at Clapham where there is on the common a large pond which I observed to be one day, very rough with the wind. I fetched out a cruet of oil. And just to note, a cruet is like a small flask or carafe with a stopper on top, which you might use to store olive oil or vinegar or lemon juice at a dining table. Sort of. You can think of it as like, you know, you taco bell sauce packet, but a rigid caraf.

Right, He's like, oh, I need to get me some of that rancid cooking grease. Figure out what's so special about it. So the authors of the paper here they go over some of the things we talked about in the previous episode that since ancient times, authors have mentioned this here and there, this practice of pouring oil, sometimes olive oil, on top of the sea to calm the waters during storms. Remember that, though we don't have Aristotle's original writing on this subject, the Roman historian Plutarch attributed a view to Aristotle that quote, the oil produces calm by smoothing the water's surface so that wind can slip over it without making an impression. So when the captain told Franklin this He's like, oh, yeah, they emptied their nasty grease into the water after they're done cooking, and it's greasing the side of the ship and the water around it, so that's making the waves calm. Franklin suspected that this explanation was wrong. He doubted that greasing the outside of the ship would actually calm the water around it, but the observation captured his curiosity, especially since it reminded him of experiences playing with wax in his father's soap factory when he was ten years old, and he observed the same phenomenon several more times during voyages across the ocean, so he decided at some point that he should make experiments to better understand this. He finally got around to it twelve years later in seventeen sixty nine during another visit to Great Britain. So Franklin was staying in an area called Clapham Common in South London, and together with a friend of his name, Christopher Baldwin, Franklin made his way to a local pond and started just dumping oil in it. To quote from Franklin's own description of his experiments at the length being at Clapham where there is on the common a large pond which I observed to be one day, very rough with the wind. I fetched out a cruet of oil. And just to note, a cruet is like a small flask or carafe with a stopper on top, which you might use to store olive oil or vinegar or lemon juice at a dining table. Sort of. You can think of it as like, you know, you taco bell sauce packet, but a rigid caraf.

Okay, that's good that we know how much oil, because I think, as we discussed in the first episode, like there's there's this one tale where it sounds like it's a magic potion's worth of oil. Other cases it sounds like you're talking about like a dumping out all the kitchens excess oil. So there's always this question of, like, how much oil are we talking about here?

Okay, that's good that we know how much oil, because I think, as we discussed in the first episode, like there's there's this one tale where it sounds like it's a magic potion's worth of oil. Other cases it sounds like you're talking about like a dumping out all the kitchens excess oil. So there's always this question of, like, how much oil are we talking about here?

This is going to be a fairly small amount of oil. I think I've seen it described in the tablespoon range. Okay, but so Franklin says, I fetched out a cruet of oil and dropped a little of it on the water. I saw it spread itself with surprising swiftness upon the surface, and there the oil though not more than a teaspoonful. Oh okay, so he says, a teaspoonful here produced an instant calm over a space several yards square, which spread amazingly and extended itself gradually till it reached the lee side, making all that quarter of the pond, perhaps half an acre, as smooth as a looking glass. The oil layer was so thin as to produce the prismatic colors for a considerable space, and beyond them so much thinner as to be invisible except in its effect of smoothing the waves at a much greater distance. So this is a very simple experiment, simply pouring oil out over the surface of a pond in windy weather. But out of this very simple experiment Franklin got several interesting observations. So one is that a tiny container of oil spreads out over a shockingly vast area on the surface of the water. And the second thing was it seemed true in the parts where the oil spread, the water no longer rippled in the wind, but became, in his words, as smooth as a looking glass, smooth as a mirror. But what if the effect was just something about this pond in particular Franklin knew that you should repeat an experiment under different circumstances to see if you get the same result or a different one, So he wrote quote after this, I contrived to take with me whenever I went into the country a little oil in the upper hollow of my bamboo cane, with which I might repeat the experiment as opportunities should offer. And I found it constantly to succeed. So I'm thinking of him a little bit like Gendalf sort of wandering through the shires, stupefying the Hobbits by pouring oil on the water out of his staff.

This is going to be a fairly small amount of oil. I think I've seen it described in the tablespoon range. Okay, but so Franklin says, I fetched out a cruet of oil and dropped a little of it on the water. I saw it spread itself with surprising swiftness upon the surface, and there the oil though not more than a teaspoonful. Oh okay, so he says, a teaspoonful here produced an instant calm over a space several yards square, which spread amazingly and extended itself gradually till it reached the lee side, making all that quarter of the pond, perhaps half an acre, as smooth as a looking glass. The oil layer was so thin as to produce the prismatic colors for a considerable space, and beyond them so much thinner as to be invisible except in its effect of smoothing the waves at a much greater distance. So this is a very simple experiment, simply pouring oil out over the surface of a pond in windy weather. But out of this very simple experiment Franklin got several interesting observations. So one is that a tiny container of oil spreads out over a shockingly vast area on the surface of the water. And the second thing was it seemed true in the parts where the oil spread, the water no longer rippled in the wind, but became, in his words, as smooth as a looking glass, smooth as a mirror. But what if the effect was just something about this pond in particular Franklin knew that you should repeat an experiment under different circumstances to see if you get the same result or a different one, So he wrote quote after this, I contrived to take with me whenever I went into the country a little oil in the upper hollow of my bamboo cane, with which I might repeat the experiment as opportunities should offer. And I found it constantly to succeed. So I'm thinking of him a little bit like Gendalf sort of wandering through the shires, stupefying the Hobbits by pouring oil on the water out of his staff.

I guess so. But this makes me I ask all sorts of questions about his cane. Did he always have a secret compartment in his cane for some sort of a flask or vial of some substance? And if so, what usually goes in there? Is this like you have a little bit of alcohol? Or is there is this? I do you put some poison in there? I mean, there's so many questions about this bamboo cane.

I guess so. But this makes me I ask all sorts of questions about his cane. Did he always have a secret compartment in his cane for some sort of a flask or vial of some substance? And if so, what usually goes in there? Is this like you have a little bit of alcohol? Or is there is this? I do you put some poison in there? I mean, there's so many questions about this bamboo cane.

Yeah, what did he have in there when he was not wandering the shire? Yeah?

Yeah, what did he have in there when he was not wandering the shire? Yeah?

Or maybe he had it specially. I mean, it's like all these options around the table with Benjamin Franklin. I can also easily imagine from what we've read of the man him going into the cane shop and say, look, I need to oil down some ponds in the as I travel around, and I don't want to just carry it on my person. I want to have it secreted away within my bamboo cane. I would like to commission such a bamboo cane. And they're like, all right, yeah, we can do that for you.

Or maybe he had it specially. I mean, it's like all these options around the table with Benjamin Franklin. I can also easily imagine from what we've read of the man him going into the cane shop and say, look, I need to oil down some ponds in the as I travel around, and I don't want to just carry it on my person. I want to have it secreted away within my bamboo cane. I would like to commission such a bamboo cane. And they're like, all right, yeah, we can do that for you.

Right, So then he crosses commissioned secret grease cane off of his daily to do list. Well, anyway, so after a while he'd observed this effect a lot of times, and in trying to interpret the results, Franklin observed a distinction between how oil behaves when you drop it onto a solid surface versus onto the surface of water. He says, if you put a drop of oil on a table made of marble, or a table made of wood, or on a mirror glass that's lying horizontal, the drop just remains in place as a drop. It pretty much keeps the same shape. It doesn't spread out. But on the surface of water it spreads. There is a dramatically different behavior. It's not just a little different like a single drop of oil will spread over a vast area. I remember he said, the pond in England. It was about a tea spoonful, and that went to like a half acre. Wow. So Franklin wrote, quote, if there be a mutual repulsion between the particles of oil and no attraction between oil and water, oil dropped on water will not be held together by adhesion to the spot whereon it falls. It will be at liberty to expand itself, and it will spread on a surface that, besides being smooth to the most perfect degree of polish, prevents, perhaps by repelling the oil all immediate contact, keeping it at a minute distance from itself, and the expansion will continue till the mutual repulsion between the particles of the oil is weakened and reduced to nothing by their distance. And while of course Franklin believed there to be a natural repulsion between oil and water, he thought that there was no natural repulsion between water and air, so the water and air could freely contact one another, and that was why he thought it may be stilled the waves. So we'll come back to a slightly different explanation of how it stills the waves in a minute. But First, there's another interesting consequence of this experiment. The concept of a molecule had not yet taken root during Franklin's life. Franklin wouldn't have known what a molecule was. But the author's right that what Franklin had actually created here on the surface of the water was a monomolecular layer of oil quote, which eventually expanded into a two dimensional gas of oil molecules at the air water interface. But what he had done is create a layer of oil one molecule thick. That's what happens when you allow oil to spread out without boundary on the surface of water. And so Franklin never made this next step, but later scientists observed that you could use exactly this experiment to calculate the height of a single molecule of oil, because you already know two things. You know the starting volume of oil, and then when you drop it on water, you can wait for it to spread out completely into a monolayer and then measure the area of the oil. So if you know this starting volume and then the area that it spreads out to, you can calculate the thickness of the single molecule layer. Oh wow, if Franklin had thought to do this, and they say that he would have been able to mathematically, he apparently just didn't. It didn't occur to him to do this. He could have come up with the first roughly accurate estimate of the size of a molecule in history, and he would have been one hundred years ahead of the actual first people to do this. So one of the later scientists who did make this kind of calculation was the British mathematician and physicist Lord Rayleigh, who lived eighteen forty two to nineteen nineteen, and he realized that the spreading of the molecules of oil across the surface of water would illuminate the question of what he called molecular magnitudes the size of an oil molecule. So he did experiments of putting olive oil in a sponge bath to calculate the size of a molecule of triolene, which is a main component of olive oil, and he put it after his measurements at sixteen point three angstroms and Angstrom is one ten billionth of a meter, and this calculation was close but was still a little bit off, and it was improved by the contributions of a German self taught chemist named Agnes Pockels who lived eighteen sixty two to nineteen thirty five. She had performed similar experiments on her own before Lord Rayleigh, and she had done them in her own kitchen at the counter. She was not formally trained in science. She was an autodidact, and when she saw his paper in eighteen ninety she contacted him with her own results, which had been hers. Had been accomplished with the help of an instrument that she had invented for measuring surface tension, which helped get a better calculation of the thickness of the oil, and with her method she measured the thickness of a single oil molecule or the sorry not just the oil, the trilene molecule, the main component of the olive oil. She measured that to thirteen angstroms, and this in turn led Raley to improve his own measurements, and then later the American physicist Irving Langmuir came along to do definitive work on oil film chemistry, and when he did that, he did so with the help of a surface tension measuring device which was similar to the instrument that Agnes Pockles had already invented in the nineteenth century. But anyway, why did the oil actually calm the waves? What is going on when the waves stop rippling in water where there's an oil mono layer on top. The authors of this paper suggest that the best explanation is the one offered by Lord Rayleigh, So I'm going to read from Lord Rayleigh. Here. He wrote, let us consider small waves as propagated over the surface of clean water. As the waves advanced, the surface of the water has to submit to periodic extensions and contractions. At the crest of the wave, the surface is compressed, while the trough it is extended. As long as the water is pure, there is no force to oppose that, and the wave can be propagated without difficulty. But if the surface be contaminated, the contamination strongly resists the alternating stretching and contraction. It tends always on the contrary to spread itself uniformly, and the result is that the water refuses to lend itself to the motion which is required of it. The film of oil may be compared to an inextensible membrane, membrane that can't stretch floating on the surface of the water and hampering its motion. And under these conditions it is not possible for the waves to be generated unless the forces are very much greater than usual. So if I'm understanding this correctly, it seems to me what he's saying is that the oil, because of its hydrophobic chemical reaction with the water and with its and with itself, it strongly prefers to stretch out into this single molecule thick layer. And if this oil really wants to become and then stay a layer that's a single molecule thick, that means it can't really stretch any thinner unless the force of the waves is so strong that the oil slick is actually ripped apart, and it repels being contracted to become any thicker. Since it resists becoming more than a molecule thick, so it resists any wave motion at the surface. Though of course, at some point waves could become so powerful that they would override the hydrophobic chemical forces that caused this phenomenon, So it only works up to a certain point.

Right, So then he crosses commissioned secret grease cane off of his daily to do list. Well, anyway, so after a while he'd observed this effect a lot of times, and in trying to interpret the results, Franklin observed a distinction between how oil behaves when you drop it onto a solid surface versus onto the surface of water. He says, if you put a drop of oil on a table made of marble, or a table made of wood, or on a mirror glass that's lying horizontal, the drop just remains in place as a drop. It pretty much keeps the same shape. It doesn't spread out. But on the surface of water it spreads. There is a dramatically different behavior. It's not just a little different like a single drop of oil will spread over a vast area. I remember he said, the pond in England. It was about a tea spoonful, and that went to like a half acre. Wow. So Franklin wrote, quote, if there be a mutual repulsion between the particles of oil and no attraction between oil and water, oil dropped on water will not be held together by adhesion to the spot whereon it falls. It will be at liberty to expand itself, and it will spread on a surface that, besides being smooth to the most perfect degree of polish, prevents, perhaps by repelling the oil all immediate contact, keeping it at a minute distance from itself, and the expansion will continue till the mutual repulsion between the particles of the oil is weakened and reduced to nothing by their distance. And while of course Franklin believed there to be a natural repulsion between oil and water, he thought that there was no natural repulsion between water and air, so the water and air could freely contact one another, and that was why he thought it may be stilled the waves. So we'll come back to a slightly different explanation of how it stills the waves in a minute. But First, there's another interesting consequence of this experiment. The concept of a molecule had not yet taken root during Franklin's life. Franklin wouldn't have known what a molecule was. But the author's right that what Franklin had actually created here on the surface of the water was a monomolecular layer of oil quote, which eventually expanded into a two dimensional gas of oil molecules at the air water interface. But what he had done is create a layer of oil one molecule thick. That's what happens when you allow oil to spread out without boundary on the surface of water. And so Franklin never made this next step, but later scientists observed that you could use exactly this experiment to calculate the height of a single molecule of oil, because you already know two things. You know the starting volume of oil, and then when you drop it on water, you can wait for it to spread out completely into a monolayer and then measure the area of the oil. So if you know this starting volume and then the area that it spreads out to, you can calculate the thickness of the single molecule layer. Oh wow, if Franklin had thought to do this, and they say that he would have been able to mathematically, he apparently just didn't. It didn't occur to him to do this. He could have come up with the first roughly accurate estimate of the size of a molecule in history, and he would have been one hundred years ahead of the actual first people to do this. So one of the later scientists who did make this kind of calculation was the British mathematician and physicist Lord Rayleigh, who lived eighteen forty two to nineteen nineteen, and he realized that the spreading of the molecules of oil across the surface of water would illuminate the question of what he called molecular magnitudes the size of an oil molecule. So he did experiments of putting olive oil in a sponge bath to calculate the size of a molecule of triolene, which is a main component of olive oil, and he put it after his measurements at sixteen point three angstroms and Angstrom is one ten billionth of a meter, and this calculation was close but was still a little bit off, and it was improved by the contributions of a German self taught chemist named Agnes Pockels who lived eighteen sixty two to nineteen thirty five. She had performed similar experiments on her own before Lord Rayleigh, and she had done them in her own kitchen at the counter. She was not formally trained in science. She was an autodidact, and when she saw his paper in eighteen ninety she contacted him with her own results, which had been hers. Had been accomplished with the help of an instrument that she had invented for measuring surface tension, which helped get a better calculation of the thickness of the oil, and with her method she measured the thickness of a single oil molecule or the sorry not just the oil, the trilene molecule, the main component of the olive oil. She measured that to thirteen angstroms, and this in turn led Raley to improve his own measurements, and then later the American physicist Irving Langmuir came along to do definitive work on oil film chemistry, and when he did that, he did so with the help of a surface tension measuring device which was similar to the instrument that Agnes Pockles had already invented in the nineteenth century. But anyway, why did the oil actually calm the waves? What is going on when the waves stop rippling in water where there's an oil mono layer on top. The authors of this paper suggest that the best explanation is the one offered by Lord Rayleigh, So I'm going to read from Lord Rayleigh. Here. He wrote, let us consider small waves as propagated over the surface of clean water. As the waves advanced, the surface of the water has to submit to periodic extensions and contractions. At the crest of the wave, the surface is compressed, while the trough it is extended. As long as the water is pure, there is no force to oppose that, and the wave can be propagated without difficulty. But if the surface be contaminated, the contamination strongly resists the alternating stretching and contraction. It tends always on the contrary to spread itself uniformly, and the result is that the water refuses to lend itself to the motion which is required of it. The film of oil may be compared to an inextensible membrane, membrane that can't stretch floating on the surface of the water and hampering its motion. And under these conditions it is not possible for the waves to be generated unless the forces are very much greater than usual. So if I'm understanding this correctly, it seems to me what he's saying is that the oil, because of its hydrophobic chemical reaction with the water and with its and with itself, it strongly prefers to stretch out into this single molecule thick layer. And if this oil really wants to become and then stay a layer that's a single molecule thick, that means it can't really stretch any thinner unless the force of the waves is so strong that the oil slick is actually ripped apart, and it repels being contracted to become any thicker. Since it resists becoming more than a molecule thick, so it resists any wave motion at the surface. Though of course, at some point waves could become so powerful that they would override the hydrophobic chemical forces that caused this phenomenon, So it only works up to a certain point.

And yet you might ask, well, could we stop a hurricane with it? This actually is something that I found discussed in a paper from two thousand and five. This is it's titled A Note concerning the Light Hill Sandwich Model of Typical Cyclones. The authors here are Baron Blot, Chorin, and Prost Taukashan. These three individuals would be Alexander Chorin, a Berkeley computational fluid mechanics expert, Russian mathematician Grigory Baron Blatt, and VM Takashian. So they seem to be individuals who are very well established in their field here, and I looked at this paper and I tried to look at the paper that it came before it, that they're kind of This is kind of an addendum too. It's very technical paper, full of equations and whatnot. But in this A Note concerning the light Hill Sandwich Model of Tropical Cyclones, they suggest that that oil spread on the surface of water could potentially prevent the formation of quote turbulence dampening ocean spray troplets. The idea here being that while there's a lot going on in a hurricane, quote, flow acceleration in an ocean spray that carries large water droplets unquote is part of the whole scenario, and if one could theoretically curtail flow acceleration by droplets, it might have an impact on the storm's overall strength. I'm going to read what the authors wrote here on the matter.

And yet you might ask, well, could we stop a hurricane with it? This actually is something that I found discussed in a paper from two thousand and five. This is it's titled A Note concerning the Light Hill Sandwich Model of Typical Cyclones. The authors here are Baron Blot, Chorin, and Prost Taukashan. These three individuals would be Alexander Chorin, a Berkeley computational fluid mechanics expert, Russian mathematician Grigory Baron Blatt, and VM Takashian. So they seem to be individuals who are very well established in their field here, and I looked at this paper and I tried to look at the paper that it came before it, that they're kind of This is kind of an addendum too. It's very technical paper, full of equations and whatnot. But in this A Note concerning the light Hill Sandwich Model of Tropical Cyclones, they suggest that that oil spread on the surface of water could potentially prevent the formation of quote turbulence dampening ocean spray troplets. The idea here being that while there's a lot going on in a hurricane, quote, flow acceleration in an ocean spray that carries large water droplets unquote is part of the whole scenario, and if one could theoretically curtail flow acceleration by droplets, it might have an impact on the storm's overall strength. I'm going to read what the authors wrote here on the matter.

Quote.

Quote.

In the present work, we demonstrated that the mechanism of turbulent suppression by water droplets in the ocean spray can substantially accelerate the flow so that the speeds of wind characteristic of the strongest hurricanes can be reached. The complete mathematical model, taking into account both thermal effects and Coriola's force, can now be constructed in the form that allows effective numerical calculations. Note that a model of dust storms taking into account the thermal effects was proposed in reference seven. Furthermore, the effects of particles on the dynamics of tornadoes can be studied by similar meats. Anyway, they get to the conclusion here they say, incan illusion. We want to make a comment. Since antiquity semen have had barrels of oil on the decks of their vessels and thrown the oil on the sea surface in critical moments of stormy weather. We think that the action of oil was exactly the prevention of the formation of droplets. The turbulence was restored. After the oil was dropped, the turbulent drag was increased and the intensity of the squall was reduced. Possibly hurricanes can be similarly prevented or dampened by having airplanes deliver fast, decaying, harmless surfactants to the right places on the sea surface.

In the present work, we demonstrated that the mechanism of turbulent suppression by water droplets in the ocean spray can substantially accelerate the flow so that the speeds of wind characteristic of the strongest hurricanes can be reached. The complete mathematical model, taking into account both thermal effects and Coriola's force, can now be constructed in the form that allows effective numerical calculations. Note that a model of dust storms taking into account the thermal effects was proposed in reference seven. Furthermore, the effects of particles on the dynamics of tornadoes can be studied by similar meats. Anyway, they get to the conclusion here they say, incan illusion. We want to make a comment. Since antiquity semen have had barrels of oil on the decks of their vessels and thrown the oil on the sea surface in critical moments of stormy weather. We think that the action of oil was exactly the prevention of the formation of droplets. The turbulence was restored. After the oil was dropped, the turbulent drag was increased and the intensity of the squall was reduced. Possibly hurricanes can be similarly prevented or dampened by having airplanes deliver fast, decaying, harmless surfactants to the right places on the sea surface.

Okay, So, a surfactant is a substance that reduces the surface tension of water when you or of any liquid, I guess when you add it to the water. So soap is a surfactant, and it increases the wetting properties of water. It causes water to less want to cling to itself and more to spread out over whatever.

Okay, So, a surfactant is a substance that reduces the surface tension of water when you or of any liquid, I guess when you add it to the water. So soap is a surfactant, and it increases the wetting properties of water. It causes water to less want to cling to itself and more to spread out over whatever.

Now, I do want to stress that this, this proposal here is very much based in mathematical modeling, and you have to sort of you have to take it with that in consideration. On top of that, we have to to mention that, Yeah, there have been various methods that have been brought up over the years as possible means of dampening hurricanes, or preventing hurricanes, or stopping a hurricane and its growth. None of these I think has really proven to be effective. We're not actually doing any of those things. I mean, there are things we know that we could do in the world a large scale to prevent hurricanes from becoming worse in the years ahead, and we're not necessarily doing all of those either. So but you know, nobody wants to change their lives. They want they want the really quick means of stopping the hurricane, some dynamic idea, something you can drop out of an airplane or so forth. But still, I don't know. The modeling here is interesting, and it's it's neat to see this more modern, like very technical approach to trying to figure out the same thing that Benjamin Franklin was pondering over and that the ancients in many cases just took as fact. You have turbulent seas well, throw a little oil in there and that's going to calm things down.

Now, I do want to stress that this, this proposal here is very much based in mathematical modeling, and you have to sort of you have to take it with that in consideration. On top of that, we have to to mention that, Yeah, there have been various methods that have been brought up over the years as possible means of dampening hurricanes, or preventing hurricanes, or stopping a hurricane and its growth. None of these I think has really proven to be effective. We're not actually doing any of those things. I mean, there are things we know that we could do in the world a large scale to prevent hurricanes from becoming worse in the years ahead, and we're not necessarily doing all of those either. So but you know, nobody wants to change their lives. They want they want the really quick means of stopping the hurricane, some dynamic idea, something you can drop out of an airplane or so forth. But still, I don't know. The modeling here is interesting, and it's it's neat to see this more modern, like very technical approach to trying to figure out the same thing that Benjamin Franklin was pondering over and that the ancients in many cases just took as fact. You have turbulent seas well, throw a little oil in there and that's going to calm things down.

It would be very interesting if this worked, though, though. I just pulled up a New Scientist article that was covering this paper that consulted somebody else in the field. They consulted Julian Hunt at the University College London, who just said, quote, I am very doubtful about this approach.

It would be very interesting if this worked, though, though. I just pulled up a New Scientist article that was covering this paper that consulted somebody else in the field. They consulted Julian Hunt at the University College London, who just said, quote, I am very doubtful about this approach.

Yeah, and again even the authors themselves are are pointing out that they're taking the various factors involved in the growth of a hurricane and reducing it to this one area. So this is not a solution that would seem to take everything into account, but just concerning like this one aspect of storm strength building up.

Yeah, and again even the authors themselves are are pointing out that they're taking the various factors involved in the growth of a hurricane and reducing it to this one area. So this is not a solution that would seem to take everything into account, but just concerning like this one aspect of storm strength building up.

I guess this does raise different questions because if you go back to in part one we talked about that story from the Venerable Bead about I think the deal was a bishop gave a priest, so like King Oswe sent out a priest to bring his bride home from Kent. And then there was a bishop who gave a bottle of oil, almost as if it was a magical potion, to the priest and said, hey, you know, when you get out on the sea, if there's a storm, you pour this oil on the water and it'll calm the storm. And so that raises two different interpretations. One could be like, oh, is he just talking about the thing that is in a way. I mean, I don't know how well it would really work on a large scale around a boat, but there is at least experimental evidence that you pour oil on waters and somewhat will calm waves. Is that all that this story is talking about, or should we take it in the broader sense of it will actually stop the storm, like it will effect to the weather coming from above and the winds.

I guess this does raise different questions because if you go back to in part one we talked about that story from the Venerable Bead about I think the deal was a bishop gave a priest, so like King Oswe sent out a priest to bring his bride home from Kent. And then there was a bishop who gave a bottle of oil, almost as if it was a magical potion, to the priest and said, hey, you know, when you get out on the sea, if there's a storm, you pour this oil on the water and it'll calm the storm. And so that raises two different interpretations. One could be like, oh, is he just talking about the thing that is in a way. I mean, I don't know how well it would really work on a large scale around a boat, but there is at least experimental evidence that you pour oil on waters and somewhat will calm waves. Is that all that this story is talking about, or should we take it in the broader sense of it will actually stop the storm, like it will effect to the weather coming from above and the winds.

Yeah, I mean, in so many of these accounts, you're dealing with retellings of the thing. And even though even though bed was was maybe not too many degrees away from from from the actual account, Yeah, it's easy to imagine how the story could could be exaggerated, you know, the calming of the waters to the overall you know, calming of the storm in the same way that perhaps an effect that makes the surface of the water more like glass so that you can see down into it, could I'm and I'm guessing here potentially be you know, further exaggerated into making the entire water column illuminated and diveable in a way that you can easily find what you're looking for.

Yeah, I mean, in so many of these accounts, you're dealing with retellings of the thing. And even though even though bed was was maybe not too many degrees away from from from the actual account, Yeah, it's easy to imagine how the story could could be exaggerated, you know, the calming of the waters to the overall you know, calming of the storm in the same way that perhaps an effect that makes the surface of the water more like glass so that you can see down into it, could I'm and I'm guessing here potentially be you know, further exaggerated into making the entire water column illuminated and diveable in a way that you can easily find what you're looking for.

In the depths.

In the depths.

But this is all what I think makes the topic so fascinating because it, you know, it seems to be this realm where this some it seems on one hand that this could not be that this seems like, surely this is just fable. But on the other hand, we do see you know, some of the science at play here. We can see, like why it works at least to some degree, so it's it's kind of has a has a foot in both worlds.