Pooping in public restrooms is bad enough. But cranking the cable in one of those portable liquid-filled outhouses can be horrifying. The height of awfulness is to open the lid and witness the remnants of the last users' bowel movements floating on the surface, like a dollop of brown cottage cheese adrift in a dark green antiseptic sea.
One could change the formulation of the embalming fluid used in these temporary toilets to cause poo to become negatively buoyant and thus sink out of sight, out of mind and out of reach of small children.
The mind boggles at the testing program required to identify the proper fluid for this task. Any volunteers?-- sairy_gamp, Sep 25 2010 Clivus Multrum http://www.http://w...ence-technology.phpCompost, low smell [csea, Sep 25 2010] Some of the info, in layman's terms http://www.fitness.org.au/673428.htmlI can't find the actual study at the moment [infidel, Sep 26 2010] Ethanol?-- nineteenthly, Sep 25 2010 Hmm. Poo buoyancy is not a constant. [+/-]-- daseva, Sep 25 2010 Nonetheless it would be feasible to increase the proportion that sink.-- nineteenthly, Sep 25 2010 //testing program// you mean like looking up "specific gravity of liquids" ? :D-- FlyingToaster, Sep 25 2010 // Looking up "specific gravity of liquids" //
Just been doing that and it looks like the best bet density-wise would be isopentane at room temperature, but it's highly inflammable of course, so my other thoughts are, use liquid nitrogen or granules of some kind. This seems more feasible than that.
So, it would need to be something which was granular, light, inert and not foamy or spongy, which could be easily washed or sterilised. I suppose that would mean hollow plastic granules filled with helium.-- nineteenthly, Sep 25 2010 Decent Portaloos don't have a liquid reservoir to drop your torpedo in, they have a plateau with a drainage hole. When you press the button, the flushing liquid (disinfectant mixture), washes the poo into the hole and beyond into whatever u-bend or plumbing void there is.
The only poo that typically causes issues is the sludgy stuff that welds itself to the shelf.
Now, please excuse me - I'm off to get breakfast... Chocolate spread on toast.-- Jinbish, Sep 25 2010 I also considered air. As it happens, i also thought about vacuum. I did not think about chocolate spread. I did think about mentioning it over breakfast.
I think that you could have it go through an airlock into a vacuum, distill the vapour for purposes unknown, freeze-dry it and burn it for fuel.-- nineteenthly, Sep 25 2010 Annoying though: urine's a cinch to sequester and store passively: waterless urinal for pointers and ditto built into the toilet bowl for setters (odorless too). Feces not so much fun...activated charcoal, bentonite clay...
Little point in improving a johnny-on-the-spot though: you could make it the perfect odorless toilet and people would just crap on the floor.-- FlyingToaster, Sep 25 2010 How about using NaK? Drop it and run...-- Grogster, Sep 25 2010 You might need to get a little NaK Ed before you go using that one, [Grog]-- infidel, Sep 25 2010 True, using the known specific gravity of fluids is a way to go. It's measuring the various poos that could get interesting.-- sairy_gamp, Sep 25 2010 //Poo buoyancy is not a constant// Indeed not, and this has diagnostic value. Floating poo is characteristic of steatorrhea. If I recall correctly. I'm *not* going to the Internet to verify that, for obvious reasons.-- mouseposture, Sep 25 2010 It was a toss-up between Na and NaK. NaK is more fun, but Na doesn't slow down poo neutrons (provided you find fissionable poo down there). Add a nice argon cover gas when you're done and don't forget to wipe thoroughly.-- Grogster, Sep 25 2010 Yes it is a sign of steatorrhea, though it also looks quite distinctive when that happens and it isn't a particularly specific sign because bulk can also make it lighter.
The urine/stool problem can be addressed by not allowing them to mix in the first place. Always sit down, rear chute for stools, front chute for urine. This is done sometimes for a reason i've forgotten.-- nineteenthly, Sep 25 2010 //looks quite distinctive// I know, that's wny I didn't dare google it: I would have autogoatsed with images of clay- colored sh*t. "Lighter" in two senses of the word.-- mouseposture, Sep 25 2010 Yes, but various things can do that too. I suspect you don't look at your own stools before you flush, which is a little like not examining testicles/breasts regularly in my book. Incidentally, if you do Google you do get that but it's not particularly prominent and you also get a picture of what seem to be blueberry muffins and the Bristol Stool Chart.-- nineteenthly, Sep 25 2010 //I suspect you don't look at your own stools before you flush// When I first began asking people about the color of their stools, I was surprised to discover that there are people who DON'T.-- mouseposture, Sep 25 2010 // color of their stools //
Ours are beech-effect, with silver metal legs. We think they came from Ikea. Oh, no, you mean .... EEeuuurgh.
Elsan Blue is a mix of Methanol and Formaldehyde in water; they both have a density of around 0.8 at 25 C so a 50/50 mix would send your floaters straight to Davy Jones's Cesspit, until the proportion of urine started to increase.-- 8th of 7, Sep 25 2010 [8] Better make sure the loo is well-ventilated.
(Admit it. This is a cunning plan to create exploding cesspits.)-- mouseposture, Sep 25 2010 Not as such; consider it more as a disincentive for those who smoke ciggies in the bog.-- 8th of 7, Sep 25 2010 Adds new meaning to "minelaying operations".
By the way, use of statins (e.g. Atorvastatin aka Lipitor or Xenical aka Orlistat) will cause steatorrhoea. The condition may also be an indication of the onset of pancreatitis, which will lead to diabetes mellitus (type 2 diabetes) as metabolic insulin production reduces.-- infidel, Sep 25 2010 New research shows that 4-6 eggs per week actually reduces average cholesterol levels, as the body does not have to produce so much of its own cholesterol if it's provided from a dietary source.-- infidel, Sep 26 2010 Sounds like those Egg Marketing Board thugs got to you too eh Infidel? (kidding)-- doctorremulac3, Sep 26 2010 Actually, the research was done by some docs in Australia, I think. Hang on a second... [link]-- infidel, Sep 26 2010 random, halfbakery