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NEWSCIENCENEWSCIENCENEWSCIENCE cubic metre of air, as the saturation point of air at 11°C is 10 grams per cubic metre. The heat given off, which must be carried away by the fluid in the radiator, represents approximately 32 calories for said one cubic metre of air... "It is advisable to pass the fluid through a second radiator of larger dimension, disposed in the ground at a certain depth. "If the humidity of the warm air is definitely below 50 grams of water per cubic metre, that is, if the air is far from its saturation limit, and if the device for obtaining fresh water is disposed near the sea, it is possible to use [windmills] for spraying sea water into the warm air in fine droplets, thereby increasing the amount of water contained in the warm air through the partial evaporation of the sea water thereinto..." Other humidity condensers have been built in recent years. Soviet cosmonauts aboard space station Mir used a system that recovered water from the air. The Aqua- Cycle, invented by William Madison, was introduced in 1992. It resembles a drinking fountain and functions as such, but it is not connected to any plumbing. It contains a refrigerated dehumidifier and a triple- purification system (carbon, deionisation and UV light) that produces water as pure as triple-distilled. Under optimal operating conditions (80°/60% humidity), the unit can produce up to five gallons daily. high, strung with a grid of steel bars in a rectangular array, subdivided into a lattice of four-inch squares which are further divided by a mesh of perforated tubules through which the water flows. Marks's patent states that the system can be used to modify weather and to clear fog.''” The EGD Fog Dispersal System, invented by Meredith Gourdine, has been used at Los Angeles and Ontario international airports and by the Air Force since 1986. The system uses an electrically charged mist that is sprayed into the fog over runways, thus clearing them for landing: "[The system is comprised of] an array of charged submicron water droplet nozzles [and select] characteristics of a cloud of charged droplets...including a field strength...a charge concentration, a time constant, [etc.] whereby clearing of the air- borne particles occurs...by attachment of forests around the area that within five or six years will be totally self-sustaining." Another 21 sites (1,000 acres total) on the Pacific coast of Latin America also have fog traps. Some of the locations have ecome self-sufficient because the trees have become large enough to collect fog or themselves, just as the ecosystem did efore settlers disrupted it. Fog-forest ecosystems survive precariously on droplets of water collected by their leaves. Some such forests, surrounded by deserts, ave been sustained by fog for millennia. Very little cutting is necessary to initiate gradual but complete destruction. The ideal locations for fog traps are arid or semi-arid coastal regions with cold off- shore currents and a mountain range within 15 miles of the coast, rising 1,500 to 3,000 feet above sea level. Mesh occupying 70% of the space is most effective for trapping fog droplets. Two layers of mesh, erected so as to rub together, optimise the collec- tion of water in PVC pipes attached to the bottom of the nets. Collection varies with the topography and the density of the fog. The fog trap at Chungungo is 40 x 13 feet and produces 45 gallons/day. As the fog becomes denser and more frequent in the summertime, water production doubles. Air wells, dew ponds and fog fences offer real hope for thirsty humanity. The quantity of water thus produced is not likely to meet the needs of large-scale agriculture, yet countless lives can be saved by this simple, elegant technology. oo Soviet cosmonauts aboard space station Mir used a system that recovered water from the air. aboard space station Mir used a system that recovered water from the air. the emitted submicron droplets to the air- borne particles to the ground.""*'* A similar system was invented by Hendricus Loos (USP #4,475,927): "[The system consists of] gapped air jets aden with electrically charged droplets of low mobility, a ground corona guard in the form of a shallow water-and-oil basin, and a charged-collector-drops emitting device on the ground, arranged in such a manner that the low-mobility charged droplets lown aloft by the air jets form a virtual electrode suspended at an appropriate height above the ground, toward which the oppositely charged high-mobility collector drops move, thereby collecting the neutral fog drops in their paths..."° Chilean scientists have developed a revo- lutionary Fog Trap at Chungungo, Chile. A group of 50 fog traps made of plastic mesh stands atop a 2,600-foot mountain, collecting up to 2,000 gallons daily. The villagers call it "harvesting the clouds". Walter Canto, regional director of Chile's national Forest Corporation, said: "We're not only giving Chungungo all the water it needs, but we have enough water to start Cloud Condensers and Fog Fences In 1945, South Africa's chief meteorolo- gist, Theodore Schumann, proposed the construction of a unique Cloud Condenser on top of the 3,000-foot Table Mountain on the south side of Capetown. Schumann's design comprised two large parallel fences of wire netting, one insulated and one grounded, which would be charged with a potential difference of 50-100 kV. The wire screens were to be about 150 feet high, 9,000 feet long, and one foot apart. He estimated that the electrified fence would condense as much as 30,000,000 gallons daily from "The Cloth", a perpetual cloud that crowns the peak. The fence was never built. Alvin Marks invented the Power Fence to generate electricity from the wind by means of a charged aerosol which was dispersed from microscopic holes in the tubing of the fence. Marks calculated that if the wind averaged 25 mph, a mile of fence would generate about 40 megawatts of power. The towers would be 500 feet Endnotes 1. Sayer, Kathy, Washington Post, January 25, 1993. 2. "Dew Ponds", Scientific American, May 1934, pp. 254-55. 3. Popular Science, September 1922, p. 5. 4, Popular Mechanics, December 1932, p. 868. 5. Popular Science, March 1933. 6. Knapen, Achille: US Patent #1,816,592 (1931); French Patent #333,093; French Patent #682,352. 7. Courneya, Calice: USP #4,351,651. 8. Lindsley, E.F., Popular Science, January 1984, pp. 146-47. 9. Coanda, Henri: USP #2,761,292; USP #2,803,591; USP #3,284,318. 10. Sculin, George, True, December 1956. 11. Lemonick, Michael, "The Power Fence", Science Digest, August 1984. 12. Marks, Alvin: USP #4,206,396; USP #3,417,267. 13. San Francisco Chronicle, September 16, 1986. 14. Gourdine, Meredith: USP #4,671,805. 15. Loos, Hendricus: USP #4,475,927. (Source: By Robert Nelson, Rex Research, http:/www.rexresearch.com) 46 = NEXUS Soviet cosmonauts www.nexusmagazine.com DECEMBER 2002 — JANUARY 2003