Little Gems

Daylight saving time will begin on Sunday, March 10, 2019, at 2:00 a.m.
Here are some interesting facts to get everyone ready to turn the clocks ahead an hour. It’s called “daylight saving time” not “daylight savings time.” Many people make “saving” plural, however, the word “saving” serves as an adjective instead of a verb, so “saving” is grammatically correct. Daylight Saving was first used in Canada in 1908 by the residents of Port Arthur, now known as Thunder Bay. However, the idea didn’t catch on globally until Germany introduced Daylight Saving in 1916. After that, it was introduced and accepted in the United Kingdom, France, and many other countries.

In the U.S. it is optional for states to participate in Daylight Saving, and Hawaii and Arizona choose not to participate. Now that it is basically a global practice (except it is not used in China which stretches across seven time zones!), don’t forget to spring ahead an hour on March 10th, 2019. Change any clocks manually, as needed, if they don’t have the automatic change built into them (like most modern cars), and get some extra rest for that hour that’s about to be “lost”.

Cartoon of the Week

Cartoon by Terry O'Neill Lake Geneva

 

Salt of the earth.
Here is the truth about using standard salt (sodium chloride) when the temperature falls below zero Fahrenheit. Generally, it is taught on television that, at or below zero, Fahrenheit salt cannot melt ice and therefore using standard salt when the temperature is at or below zero Fahrenheit is of no value, or simply just a waste of the substance.

Well, that is not true.

First: even when the temperature of the ice is at or below zero Fahrenheit, throwing salt crystals on ice works like throwing gravel on ice. That rough salt makes it much safer to walk on the ice until the temperature warms and the salt does its job and melts the ice.
Second: the outdoor temperature is the air temperature; whereas in daylight, the sun’s radiant heat will make anything it shines on from a few degrees to 20 degrees warmer than the air temperature (even on an overcast or cloudy day there is some warming) and therefore standard salt can melt ice from the radiant heat from the sun even when the air temperature is at or below zero Fahrenheit.

To experience the difference between radiant heat temperature and air temperature, sit in the shade and then go sit in the sunlight. It feels much warmer in sunlight and you will be warmer than when you were in the shade, but the actual temperature of the air surrounding you is virtually the same whether you are in the shade or in sunlight. Whatever the sunlight is shining on absorbs the radiant heat from the sun and becomes significantly warmer than the air temperature around it, and that also applies to ice, which is how standard salt can melt ice when the air temperature is at or below zero Fahrenheit. Incidentally, salt “melts” ice by breaking down into two ions in its presence. Those ions then interfere with the hydrogen and oxygen atoms of the ice. As those bonds are loosened, the result is a reduction to a different state we call water, and hence the “melting” that occurs.

Some use potassium chloride instead of traditional salt (sodium chloride), and that works a bit better because potassium chloride breaks down into three ions, thereby doing more interference inside the ice molecules.

Person of the Week

Chi at Lake Geneva Nails & Spa

Chi is a perfectionist with a smile and her clients love her for both of those qualities. Chi Nguyen is the manager of the Lake Geneva Nails & Spa and has been since day one. Go see her and you will not be sorry.

 

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