This is not a tech-related post, but I thought I would point out that not all of us had smiles on our faces on the great Independence Day. Parts of the world have been suffering from drought and July 4th fireworks probably didn't help the situation.What looks to be a few feet from the house, the world's largest firefighting airtanker I've ever seen drops a fire retardant near homes in California. This stunning photo can be seen, along with others, at The Big Picture. If I were looking out my window at the time of this large plane flying by dropping red stuff, I would probably hide for cover.
I was curious as to what this red stuff was so I did a little research. I was still under the impression water was used. I guess we all can't be up to speed on all the advances...
This red stuff is a fire retardant that, of course, extinguishes fires. The retardant consists of ammonium sulfate or ammonium polyphosphate with attapulgite clay thickener or diammonium phosphate with a guar gum derivative thickener, colored with ferric oxide to mark where it's been dispersed. Whew! I hope I got that right. That is a motuhful.
So, not only does this extinguish fires and non-toxic, but it will also act as a fertilizer to promote new growth. How amazing is that? Pretty amazing.
2 comments:
This isn't "the world's largest firefighting airtanker."
Just thought you might like to have the facts.
Thanks...although I was referring to the world's largest airtanker that I've ever seen. Forgot to add that. I am sure there are larger.
Made the correction.
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