Back when I was a Boy Scout in the early-mid 1970s, it was "settled science" that first aid for suspected poison ingestion ALWAYS included dilution. The thinking was that even if the substance was caustic and could not be safely puked out, diluting it would reduce the osmotic potential and slow its entry into the body.
The standard advice was that as soon as you knew somebody had ingested a potentially poisonous substance, to make them drink a pint (half-liter) of water. Then, determine the nature of the poison before making the vomit/not-vomit decision.
Current science is to call 9-1-1 and then poison control. Do NOT dilute.
The thinking seems to be that the human stomach is mucus lined and poison that is in the stomach is absorbed very slowly. That is not the case of poison that is "burped" into the small-intestine. "Diluting" the poison increases the fill of the stomach and hastens the transfer of the stomach contents to the lower intestine.
Note to the folks who work in Emergency Medicine or Urgent Care...kick my dupa in the comments if I have this backwards.
The "settled science" flipped 180 degrees.
From a slightly different perspective, drinking 12 ounces of water with your aspirin or ibuprofen means it will dissolve more thoroughly and will enter your blood-stream more quickly than if you just take the tablets with a single swallow of liquid.
Foliar fertilizing
The old "settled science" was that plants could not use ammonia (+NH4) ions as a source of nitrogen. "Settled science" insisted that it had to be converted by soil microbes to the nitrate form (-NO3) before it was available to the plant.
The new "settled science" is that +NH4, usually in the form of urea solution, is the PREFERRED source of nitrogen for fertilizer that is applied to leaves (foliage).
Cations like +NH4 are much more readily absorbed through the micro-pores in the cuticle of the leaf than anions like -NO3.
For the record, a 1%-by-weight is the standard urea-water solution. 38 grams of urea per gallon of water (and some wetting-agent) and you are rocking-and-rolling. One of the nice things about foliar applied fertilizer is that you are not depending on precipitation to dissolve the fertilizer and move it down to the plant's roots. Nor are you depending on evaporation rates to "pull" the nutrients from the roots to the growing points. That is kind of a big deal if your plants don't have a lot of leaf area and the next week looks like it will be humid and overcast.
Foliar application is just the ticket when you need a quick shot in the arm.
Once again, a near 180 degree reversal of previous belief.
Urea, as in DEF?
ReplyDeleteYes although I don't know what else might be in DEF. It might have biocides in it to keep bacterial slime from developing over time. I just don't know.
DeleteLot cheaper dried, by-the-bag. $22/50 pounds at the local grain elevator. 46% nitrogen by weight.
Diluted peepee makes an excellent foliar feeding solution, and it's free.
ReplyDeleteSo you're saying that science is never settled and "trust the science" is not wise if any evidence doesn't fit the hypothesis/theory.....
ReplyDeleteThat's a radical concept....you might get burned at the stake or excommunicated or something for postulating such an idea....
Differ
In the first example, it sounds like there was an unintended side-effect of dilution rather than dilution in of itself being not recommended - right? The recommendation seems to be moreso "do not fill the stomach". If we could theoretically dilute but not cause the stomach to transfer the contents to the lower intestine, we'd still want to dilute I'd imagine. Not saying you're ignoring or missing that point, just thinking out loud!
ReplyDeleteStill waiting on acknowledging that the "settled science" claimed about global warming needs to be reversed, CO2 is a plant fertiliser and not a demon greenhouse gas at current levels.
ReplyDelete