Interesting residue left after a storm: Investigation!

Hmm just thinking about it, but did they recently Pave any of the roads near your shop? Like in the last week or two before the last storm but since the storm prior to it? If so what you have on your windows could be the extra Asphalt Cement (AC) used when paving to bind the substance together. Quite often you will see something similar to this deposited on your car, if you drive on a freshly paved road during or right after (while the road is still soaked) the storm goes through. Now normally its a combination of the AC/Tar and stone dust (which depending on the area could be anything from river bed silt to ordinary sand to crushed lime stone dust) which results in a bunch of different possible grit colours. Another interesting fact is that once this crap gets on something it's incredibly hard to remove, since it's mostly AC/Tar, and you will likely need to use some sort of industrial strength degreaser to get rid of it entirely. Now if none of the roads in say one block around you are fresh, then obviously this can't be the case, but I just wanted to bring up another possibility for you to look into/ consider.

reply to post by TrueBrit


Have you considered that oil from the street could have mixed with the rain and splashed along the windows down the block?Just thinking about my car windows when it rains... it often does similar and smear across when it is wiped with my finger.

reply to post by looneylupinsrevenge


There has not been any road alteration in the area for about two years, apart from some down at the other end of our road, however, this was in the opposite direction to the direction from which the storm winds blew, and so cannot account for the stuff on the window. Good thought though!

reply to post by SilentKillah


I had considered the possibility that this could be road dirt, but I have seen plenty of road dirt on our windows, usually the day before they are cleaned. The consistency and texture of that stuff however, is different to that of the residue I sampled from my window after this storm.

USB microscope x400 magnification on maplin for £40.

I'd be happy to send half this money (£20) to TrueBrit, to help fund this purchase, if another member agrees to do the same, he can then purchase this. It probably won't get there before he speaks with the guy on Monday but might be useful in the future.

TrueBrit - send me a pm with best way to get money to you.

Perhaps the oil like substance are left over from the BP disaster. It is makes sense that some of the oil and stuff they used to clean up the oil moved into the Gulf Stream and made its way up your way. Then during the developement of the storm, was caught up in the evaporation process that fed the violent storm. Be advised, I made this with absolutley no scientific evidence, sources or really thinking it through. Just a shot into the wind.

reply to post by CrastneyJPR


Hey.

I really appreciate the thought! But do bear in mind that Christmas is coming up, and I might get one then! Your support however, is much appreciated.

reply to post by TrueBrit


Great job TrueBrit! ...Raindrops form around particulates, which is why/how "cloud-seeding" works - and also how dust and bacteria and other nano-particles travel around the world. Can you make your own culture as well as passing your samples along to a lab? ...Not saying it might not be dangerous...

S&F& : up :

Spader
Perhaps the oil like substance are left over from the BP disaster. It is makes sense that some of the oil and stuff they used to clean up the oil moved into the Gulf Stream and made its way up your way. Then during the developement of the storm, was caught up in the evaporation process that fed the violent storm. Be advised, I made this with absolutley no scientific evidence, sources or really thinking it through. Just a shot into the wind.

edit on 31-10-2013 by Spader because: (no reason given)

Microbes eat up the left overs.

A combination of corexit and Oil from the BP oil disaster finally made it home to England. It was only a matter of time till England's corporations misgivings effected them. Just a wild guess I am making.

reply to post by Rezlooper


The microbes eat up the oil but they create slime out of it. They do poop you know. That poop is full of a metabolite of oil. I tried oil eating microbes for eating the oil on my garage floor. That stuff was gross that they excreted but the clay sweeping compound did attach to it. They left a semi greasy slime but did get the oil out of the concrete where it could be dealt with better..

reply to post by TrueBrit


I would consider if I were you to consult the window cleaners if they ever encountered this type of residue before. Since they are in the business they may be an asset in your endevour.

reply to post by enament


I will ask the window cleaner when I see him, whether he thought there was anything unusual about our windows this week, although I hold out little hope, because his eyesight is not the greatest in the world by any stretch.

ok TB - point taken.

I may invest in one myself anyway - there's always interesting stuff to look at, and seeing it on the computer screen and being able to screen shot, and send pic as email is a huge bonus over a regular microscope.

reply to post by TrueBrit


Hopefully you will be sending samples to both government labs and independent labs. The results should be interesting for sure.

S&F

rickymouse
reply to post by Rezlooper

 

The microbes eat up the oil but they create slime out of it. They do poop you know. That poop is full of a metabolite of oil. I tried oil eating microbes for eating the oil on my garage floor. That stuff was gross that they excreted but the clay sweeping compound did attach to it. They left a semi greasy slime but did get the oil out of the concrete where it could be dealt with better..

Thanks for that perspective Ricky...I guess that would be a heck of a lot of microbe poop after eating up all that oil from the spill.

I liked the ancient days of erase and start over where everything was wiped out in a matter of hours.

Now they erase slowly, painfully, and a few get super rich off it all.

reply to post by OratoryHeist


Well, I will be talking to a geologist who works at our local museum on Monday. I have no idea which labs he would be using to examine my samples. For all I know, he may have a laboratory capable of discerning the contents of the residue, on the museum premises, at the local university, or indeed access to a personal lab at his own home!

Until I speak to this fellow though, I have no idea which labs he may need to use. However, I will be retaining the first two samples I took as a matter of good practice. If the geologist turns out being a bust for one reason or another, I will give my cousin a call. He tinkers with the innards of complicated medical machinery, like MRI, and X-Ray machines, and has degrees in various sciences, coming out of his ear holes. If he doesn't find himself able to identify the stuff, then I am sure one of his old university chums will be able to figure it out. However, he is an intensely busy man (apparently there is always some colbalt-60 needing his attention... Nuff said) and I will hold off bothering him about it, until I have attempted to deal with this using the more local resources available to me. Dude lives in Bath these days, and that is not exactly a short ride away.

reply to post by Rezlooper


I wonder if their poop would make a good antibiotic

reply to post by TrueBrit


Whatever it is, it's in your lungs now.

Good luck finding out what it is!