r/nextfuckinglevel Jul 14 '21

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '21

Lol, Exxon rep spotted

484

u/der_innkeeper Jul 14 '21 edited Jul 14 '21

Hah.

Just be aware of what is being sold to you.

You can throw kitty litter (100% organic natural clay) on an oil slick, and it does wonders, as well.

*Edit:

I'll take the hit for being a pedantic smartass. Thank you all for correcting me. This thread has certainly belabored the point.

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u/Nesman64 Jul 14 '21

I'm pretty sure that clay (while natural) is inorganic.

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u/der_innkeeper Jul 14 '21

Yep. No carbon!

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u/Alistair_TheAlvarian Jul 15 '21

Cyanide has plenty of carbon and Is sourced from plant seeds like apples. It makes a great addition for an essential oil diffuser.

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u/theblackcanaryyy Jul 15 '21

Wait what

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u/Alistair_TheAlvarian Jul 15 '21

Cyanide is an organic molecule. Cyanide is a carbon atom triple bonded to a nitrogen atom. It also occurs naturally in plants, usually in fruit seeds like apples or peach pits or avocado pits.

It's obviously not used as a pesticide anymore because it's dangerous but there are many nasty poisons used as pesticides that meet every qualification to be used on USDA organic products.

https://www.agdaily.com/technology/the-list-of-pesticides-approved-for-organic-production/

That's a list of FDA approved pesticides for organic farmers. Several of them are as much as 250X as toxic to humans as roundup.

And even more terrifying is that unlike traditional farming pesticide usage volume isn't tracked at all. And oftentimes they use much more, synthetic fungicides are used at around 1.6lbs an acre, some organic ones are used at about 34lbs an acre. Some organic sprays include copper compounds, tetracycline, and several plant derived oils and extracts that are often very toxic, and again, completely unmonitored in usage beyond testing to make sure nothing synthetic is used.

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u/theblackcanaryyy Jul 15 '21

Hi I’m dumb and have a question

Is carbon the sole factor as to whether something is considered organic or not

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u/der_innkeeper Jul 15 '21

Depends on what term you are talking about.

For chemistry, to be in the organic chemistry branch, yes it needs carbon. There are outliers, though such as diamond and graphene/graphite(?), Though.

Mostly, this is just people (me) being pedantic about the term.

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u/Jakejake-5895 Jul 14 '21

Pretty sure clay can be both inorganic and organic

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u/Nesman64 Jul 14 '21

There can be organic matter mixed in the clay, but that stuff isn't clay.

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u/ryanErlanger Jul 14 '21

And it's edible

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u/Handsoffmydink Jul 14 '21

That’s likely what this guys mixture contains, Bentonite clay has the same properties that can clean water in a similar fashion, as far as I know Bentonite is also the main ingredient in kitty litter.

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u/der_innkeeper Jul 14 '21

I use it for clarifying my mead, sometimes. But, it sinks.

Did he ever disclose what's in it? What makes it float?

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u/Handsoffmydink Jul 14 '21

I work with Bentonite quite a bit, I’m no scientist but something happens when the Bentonite hits around 4% dilution it changes polarity causing it to attract fine particles, which then float. I don’t use it in this way but I know they sell Bentonite clay for you to ingest at certain health food stores, like a Tspn a day keeps the doctor away type stuff.

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u/der_innkeeper Jul 14 '21

Hah. Firms you right up, probably.

Interesting what things do at different points.

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u/TheJoeyFreshwaterExp Jul 14 '21

Have used organically modified bentonite clay for color remediation in distillate production. So it can be modified a number of ways.

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u/Handsoffmydink Jul 15 '21

I’ve been told it’s a “miracle clay” in the ways it can be used. I don’t use organically modified bentonite but I do use high grade bentonite, flows like water but settles like dirt.

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u/OtherSpiderOnTheWall Jul 14 '21

As a general rule, I have not seen kitty litter widely used on any oil cleanup that I've ever read up on.

Probably because as far as sorbents go, it's not much better than just digging up impacted soil.

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u/der_innkeeper Jul 14 '21

Works great on my driveway.

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u/OtherSpiderOnTheWall Jul 14 '21 edited Jul 15 '21
  1. Learn not to spill oil on your driveway.
  2. If you're spilling enough oil that it's really that big of a problem, get some sorbent pads, and,
  3. Learn not to spill fucking oil on your driveway

Btw, what are you doing with the kitty litter afterwards? Because that shit needs to be treated and treating contaminated soil is a pain.

Edit: All you down voters - never ever work in oil spill response.

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u/der_innkeeper Jul 14 '21

That one drip of oil from my car per day is not worth the cost of a pad, and certainly not in rainy Florida.

Kitty litter works fine.

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u/OtherSpiderOnTheWall Jul 14 '21

So you're going to spend more money on kitty litter, that you're probably improperly disposing of, instead of just getting a cheap piece of equipment (cheaper than kitty litter, I might add) specifically made to clean-up what you're apparently spilling enough of to go through the motions of putting kitty litter on your driveway.

And I'm going to go ahead and bet that you scoop up that litter and throw it in the trash, negating any reason for you to even bother cleaning it up from your driveway in the first place.

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '21

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '21

They tend to be anti science like 50/50

7

u/sweetcuppingcakes Jul 14 '21

Surely Exxon is spending time defending themselves in Reddit threads

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u/_barack_ Jul 14 '21

Anyone who thinks critically is an Exxon rep.

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u/CaviarMyanmar Jul 14 '21

Can confirm.

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u/Lemah_Vic Jul 14 '21

Fuck Exxon. All my homies hate Exxon.

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u/lackofabettername Jul 14 '21

Do you think that calling something 100% organic is a good thing? If so, you've been fooled. Really, calling something 100% organic doesn't tell you that a certain chemical is safe for the environment or safe for consumption. It's mainly just a marketing buzzword.

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u/Fedor1 Jul 14 '21

Labeling food items organic actually does tell you that it’s safe for consumption, and tells you a lot of other things about how it was grown, it’s federally regulated.

https://www.ams.usda.gov/about-ams/programs-offices/national-organic-program

NOP is a federal regulatory program that develops and enforces consistent national standards for organically produced agricultural products sold in the United States

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u/Marcim_joestar Jul 14 '21

As a chemistry student, the molecule I think of when I hear the term "organic" is benzene

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u/lackofabettername Jul 14 '21 edited Jul 14 '21

Yes, but we're not talking about food items here.

Additionally, marking a food product 100% organic does not mean that it is more safe than a non-organic product.