vacuum pockets and safety nazis

Discussion in 'Science & Society' started by Avatar, Oct 10, 2004.

  1. Avatar smoking revolver Valued Senior Member

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    19,083
    Please read the text underneath. Humans.... buerocrats... kill!

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    From: schillin@spock.usc.edu (John Schilling)
    Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
    Subject: Re: Infra-yellow: Great Moments in Wacked Out SF Science
    Date: 27 Sep 2004 21:42:11 -0700
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    Oh, boy.

    Now I have to explain the absolute Greatest Moment in Wacked Out Real Science.


    Couple years ago, some people I worked with finally completed a long-delayed
    project to build a very large vacuum chamber for testing plasma thrusters and
    other advanced spacecraft propulsion systems. Not the biggest in the business,
    but maybe top ten nationwide. Big enough to walk around inside, at any rate,
    which is the important point.

    Important, because in order to go operational it needed the approval of the
    local Safety Nazis. You know the type. They have a checklist, nay, a whole
    handbook of checklists, one of which involves Confined Spaces. Big enough
    to walk around in? Check. Airtight? Check. Can be filled with asphyxiant
    gas? Well, the MSDS for "Vacuum" apparently lists it as an "asphyxiant", so
    check. It's a Confined Space, and so the Confined Space checklist must be
    implemented.

    Issue the first: How do they make certain nobody can accidentally walk in while
    the chamber is full of that deadly asphyxiant, "vacuum"? No, the fifty *tons*
    of force holding the door closed, is not an acceptable answer.

    Issue the second: When the chamber is vented back to full atmospheric pressure,
    where does the vacuum go? If the chamber were accidentally vented by opening
    the door (see above, and note exact Safety Nazi quote, "OK, say if you were
    Superman and you opened the door"), where would the vacuum go?

    Issue the third: What assurance is there, that when the chamber is vented back
    to full atmosphere, there is an adequate percentage of oxygen in the chamber?
    Hint: It is a big, big, big mistake here to acknowledge here that the laws of
    statistical gas dynamics allow for one chance in 10^10^17 (no typo) that the
    chamber will spontaneously refill with a sufficiently oxygen-poor atmosphere
    to preclude respiration.

    Issue the forth, and so help me God I am not making this up, again an exact
    Safety Nazi quote, "How can you be sure there won't be vacuum pockets left
    in the chamber, that someone could accidentally stick their head into?"

    And, coupled with issue #2, there could be deadly vacuum pockets floating
    around the lab! Aieeee!!!! Run for your lives!

    It only took three weeks to find someone with the common sense and the real
    authority to overrule the Safety Nazis on this one, and the SNs still take
    offense if anyone brings it up in their presence.


    Vacuum pockets.


    --
    *John Schilling * "Anything worth doing, *
    *Member:AIAA,NRA,ACLU,SAS,LP * is worth doing for money" *
    *Chief Scientist & General Partner * -13th Rule of Acquisition *
    *White Elephant Research, LLC * "There is no substitute *
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    *661-951-9107 or 661-275-6795 * -58th Rule of Acquisition *
     
    Last edited: Oct 10, 2004
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  3. guthrie paradox generator Registered Senior Member

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    If thats true, its very funny, and also an indictment of those who let safety nazis come from the non scientific community. They should come from the scientific community and therefore have a vague idea of hwo things work.
    By the way, what were the eventual safety precautions? I can imagine they would want a button inside that would prevent the vacuum pumping down if pressed, so if you were trapped inside you could'nt be accidentally killed.
     
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  5. Avatar smoking revolver Valued Senior Member

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    I don't know, but you can email John Schilling and ask him

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    vacuum pockets...
     
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  7. Nasor Valued Senior Member

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    I am skeptical that the above story is true. Maybe I just have too much faith in humanity.
     
  8. cato less hate, more science Registered Senior Member

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    2,959
    lol, that is so funny I.................... huh? sorry, I must have passed out. damn vacuum pocket =]
     
  9. vslayer Registered Senior Member

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    4,969
    i think theres a vacuum pocket hovering justh over that guys shoulders

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  10. ivel501 Registered Member

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    1
    I have been living dangerously!

    Now that I know about the deadly vacuum pockets, I cannot believe I have been tempting fate by using my portable vacuum pocket generator (made by Hoover) and just willy nilly move it about the house!

    Heck! I even let my kids generate a vacuum pocket with little or no protection!

    Thank you safety nazis, from this day forward I will no longer put my family at risk.

    /the fact is I am just lazy and am looking for any excuse to not do housework

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  11. phlogistician Banned Banned

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    Oh, believe it. It's easy to forget how little people know about science, if you are in the field yourself.

    I used to work with a bunch of Astronomers, and they made a discovery, so the local press came out. The first thing the interviewer said 'OK, let's get this right, it's Astronomy, not Astrology, right?'. OK, at least she was trying, but there shouldn't have been a question in the first place, especially as she'd walked under the sign written in foot high letters to enter the building, spelling it out.

    None of our vacuum chambers were big enough to enter though, so I guess we never had the safety Nazi round for that type of inspection!
     
  12. MetaKron Registered Senior Member

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    5,502
    So their safety inspectors don't consider basic scientific knowledge to be an asset?
     
  13. i321 Registered Member

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    6
    Very likely they do not. Basic scientific knowledge may cause to question the instruction manual and hence not follow the procedure. A government bureaucrat is always safe as long as he follows the procedure, no matter how stupid. Deviating from procedure opens him up to charges of negligence or worse. Following procedure is simple CYA.

    Setting up a bureacracy is a lot like writing a computer program. You try to think of all possible imput parameters, and set up a flow chart to deal with them. So next time you wonder why a DMV attendant or an OSHA inspector is acting like a robot, you know the answer.

    According to the manual, vacuum is an asphyxiant. Procedure for asphyxiants calls for making sure where the asphyxiant goes, and whether pockets form. Of course, vacuum does not behave the same way as chlorine, carbon dioxide, or other asphyxiants, but the manual did not take that into account. The result is no different from giving a computer program an un-accounted for input. Program spews garbage. As did the Safety Nazis.
     
  14. quantum_wave Contemplating the "as yet" unknown Valued Senior Member

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    Why are there so many people viewing this thread?
     
  15. iceaura Valued Senior Member

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    From the sound of it, the trouble started when "vacuum" was declared an asphyxiant.

    And the whole sorry scene created by someone's attempt to mandate competence, to cover by procedure instead of relying on judgment - - to force the safety inspector to do their job right.

    So the solution would be to rely on judgment - to give the safety inspector (and by extension the government) more power, more leeway, more arbitrary authority.

    Which people subjected to this kind of featherbrained imposition will be reluctant to do.

    Meanwhile, good yucks. If it happens to someone else.
     
  16. Banter Maestro Registered Member

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    2
    There doesn't appear to be an MSDS sheet on 'vacuum' (or at least not any longer).
     
  17. exchemist Valued Senior Member

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    Necro or what?
     
  18. Banter Maestro Registered Member

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    Totally.
     
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