New antifoul discovery - 100% effective AND green

[Boston]

imagine yourself out for the evening with just the perfectly wrong girl on your arm and your looking for a nice place to stop and get a bite. you stop in front of a place and then you notice the music, its awful, some punk band with that screaming distorted grunge sound, you move on; eventually finding just the right spot with something easy playing inthe background.

[capt vimes]

thats not how it works... but only the way we humans tend to look at things...

we know that crustaceans have some sort of audio senses - small hairs along different parts of their body - but it is not quite clear in what frequenciy-range these senses are working or to what accuracy... to my knowledge the scientific research on this is very limited not being of any interest to anybody...

but that supersonic stuff is actually only focusing on barnacles - what with all the other stuff which likes to get a trip on a ships hull as well?
weed, sponges, algae etc - those creatures and plants do really have no sense for audio signals at all, do they?

[Boston]

thats funny
no thats not how it works but it was a fun analogy
earlier today I had a chance to talk to a physicist friend of mine with the DOD and this subject came up. She works with radar so she's got a pretty good grip on the subject. essentially it would require identifying each effective wave form that most adversely effects each particular animal. Its a complex problem but eventually someone with solve it and make a killing.

[masalai]

Literally of otherwise Gee Boston I thought your story had a good start there and I was looking forward to the titilating bits so where did you go to get a "bite" - your place or hers?

I was thinking more like being zapped in a microwave and becoming slime soup - just gently cooked and detached from that inedible piece of fibreglass, followed by an entrée of something like "Kirkpatrick barnacles" for the excited fish looking for a fast food takeaway from the "copper-bottom" restaurant near the marina... - main course is of course to avoid the shark looking for some fine foods...

Actually I have been on the lookout for some "cat recipes" and "live-cat-in-a-microwave" could gain some support until RSPCA found out - all in the name of removing the wild population of this undesirable and introduced species that is DEVASTATING the natural wildlife of Australia - frickin-doo-gooders should bugger-orf so good Australians can give the small native animals a chance of survival by killing the wild introduced cats....

[yipster]

lots of wise sceptiscism eh? and strange there was no e-mail reply
when i pass one of their, respectable, outlets i will ask what state of art its in

[SamSam]

I don't know what other unintended critters might be affected by ultra sonic noise, but dogs and dogfish might not like it.

[Boston]

a gentleman never kisses and tells Mass
although

[Dave Gudeman]

It would be great if various pest species reacted to various frequencies by avoiding them. But it should make you suspicious that this behavior is completely unknown by biologists who spend their lives studying these creatures in agonizingly minute detail, and was luckily discovered by some random guy who, even though he has made this startling discovery, can't get any major corporation to pick up the technology to develop and sell it for him.

Until this behavior is documented by independent researchers it is best to be skeptical of such claims by people who want to sell you something.

[capt vimes]

incidentially now that i recall - biologists actually found out years ago how to ATTRACT reef-building species to a metal construction...

apply a weak DC-current to it....
what was the technology in one of the other green-antifouling-threads here again?

[Frosty]

Its not that they cant ,--its that they dont want to and why should they, the anti fouling industry keeps people employed and of course tax is paid on every gallon.

Im sure they can keep nasties off your boat if they wanted to.

And this bit about it killing marine life is bull. We still use cuprious oxide and TBT, we actually buy it and mix more in.

The fish in the marina are thriving, theres more fish in here than outside. we have to chase fishing boats out nightly,--and I eat mussels of the pilings.

[masalai]

What with all that cat **** and piss about? or did the cat get sold as rabbit to that corner discount eatery?

[Boston]

the use of sonic deterrents by military, police and private security agancies is pretty clearly documented. The devices are developed and in use today. Its just a mater of time before someone does actually get it right for an anti-fouling agent. Yes there may be a bunch of quacks involved at the moment but that doesnt mean much. Hell they laughed at the guy who invented toilet paper, not only that but also the guy who invented the toilet

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by masalai

What with all that cat **** and piss about? or did the cat get sold as rabbit to that corner discount eatery?

A cat is a very small animal and besides they have all gone missing.

A whale on the other hand is a very big animal much bigger than a cat infact a cat could get lodged in the whales teeth without injury.

A whales feaces is enormous, dumping a ton per day and in statistical terms is not to be sniffed at.

[masalai]

How foul - No wonder we need more anti-foul agents - does it work on "poultry" type foul?

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by Boston

Its just a mater of time before someone does actually get it right for an anti-fouling agent.

Yes we will have to wait, they have only been trying 400 years.

The Shuttle nearly melts when entering the atmosphere from a space mission and they managed to get round that problem easy.

Stopping barnacles from attaching themselves to a boat Hmmm (rubs chin) now thats a bit difficult.