Sublime
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American drywall is a thin (the standard thickness for interior partitions is half an inch or 1.27 cm) layer of gypsum that is sandwiched between two heavy liner paper boards; the mineral was formerly all mined, now nearly 50% of it originates as the by-product of flue-gas desulfurization in coal-fired power plants
Vaclav Smil • Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization
In addition, Montana ores are rich in iron sulfide, which yields sulfuric acid.
Jared Diamond • Collapse
Nick St. Pierre
@nickfloats
In 2006, ads for Fiji Water stated, “The Label Says Fiji Because It’s Not Bottled in Cleveland.” Annoyed, Cleveland officials tested the import and found 6.3 micrograms of arsenic per liter. City tap had none. (The EPA’s maximum allowed level is 10 micrograms per liter.)
Elizabeth Royte • Bottlemania: Big Business, Local Springs, and the Battle over America's Drinking Water
Buoyancy comes from filling much of the space in the hull with syntactic foam, a substance that is both light and resistant to pressure.
Gino Segre • A Matter of Degrees: What Temperature Reveals about the Past and Future of Our Species, Planet, and U niverse
metal
Irene Allright • 2 cards
Jonah Langenbeck
@jplindustrial