{"id":19488,"date":"2021-12-19T10:25:53","date_gmt":"2021-12-19T15:25:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=19488"},"modified":"2021-12-19T10:41:37","modified_gmt":"2021-12-19T15:41:37","slug":"episode-489-can-a-snowflake-capture-the-corona-virus-facts-and-fiction-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=19488","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 489 CAN A SNOWFLAKE CAPTURE THE CORONA VIRUS? FACTS AND FICTION"},"content":{"rendered":"
EPISODE 489   CAN A SNOWFLAKE CAPTURE THE CORONA VIRUS?  (FACTS AND FICTION)<\/p>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
dec. 18,2021<\/div>\n

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\u201cMarjorie, this corona virus is starting to get to me.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHow so?  Are you any different than others?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo.  But the goddamn virus is changing my life.  And not for the best.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cGet your coat on.  Let\u2019s take Woody for a walk and calm down.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThe streets are empty.  Everybody is hived away.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot everybody. There are tracks.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThos are our tracks.”<\/div>\n

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\u201cREADERS will have trouble separating fact from fiction in this episode Marjorie\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot Surprised.”<\/div>\n

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TODAY our streets were bombarded by millions of large heavy snowflakes.<\/div>\n
And at the same time parts of our neighbourhood harboured billions, perhaps hundreds<\/div>\n
of billions of the corona virus.  Our streets are empty<\/div>\n

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Is it safe to go for a walk?  Unmasked?  Which got me to thinking.  The virus is<\/div>\n
so small that it cannot be detected even by sophisticated microscopes. And the<\/div>\n
virus is so light that it can float around in the air quite freely.   Which made me<\/div>\n
think.<\/div>\n

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\u201cWhat are viruses anyway?  Animal, vegetable or mineral?<\/div>\n

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Viruses are microscopic parasites, generally much smaller than bacteria. They lack the capacity to thrive and reproduce outside of a host body. <\/p>\n

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Predominantly, viruses have a reputation for being the cause of contagion. Widespread events of disease and death have no doubt bolstered such a reputation. The 2014 outbreak of Ebola<\/a> in West Africa, and the 2009 H1N1\/swine flu<\/a> pandemic (a widespread global outbreak) likely come to mind. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cHow long have the little bastards been around?<\/div>\n

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\u201cSome scientists say they only appeared 8,000 BCE years ago.  Others say they are 55 million yeas old and co developed with bats.  <\/div>\n
Quite a difference in opinion.”<\/div>\n

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\u201cHow big are the snowflakes?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBig enough to see them until they disappear.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhich makes me think.  The virus seems to be everywhere\u2026even out here.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAccording to the experts, yes\u2026everywhere\u2026at least in spots all around he<\/div>\n
earth.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cEven out here on Glenburnie Road?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNow here\u2019s an idea…Suppose one of these big wet snowflakes struck a tiny corona virus.  Wouldn\u2019t the<\/div>\n
snowflake capture the virus and take it to the ground.  Wouldn\u2019t a million snowflakes<\/div>\n
take a billion corona virus to the ground?    Cleanse our air?  “<\/div>\n
\u201cSort of silly comments, alan”<\/div>\n

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“Now here is a mathematical problem.  The Question:<\/div>\n
\u201cHow many corona virus can be caught by one fluffy snowflake?”<\/div>\n
\u201cHas anybody ever answered?<\/div>\n
\u201cYes, the mathematician Christian Yates did\u2026in a way that is similar\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
(See Conclusion\u2026after the silly stuff)<\/div>\n

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“WHAT DOES A CORONAVIRUS LOOK LIKE?”<\/div>\n

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Seems to be quite attractive . At least according to the editors of Scientific American (July 2020)<\/div>\n
who put this image on the front over of the magazine in 2020.  NOT THE REAL COLOURS I IMAGINE.<\/div>\n

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You may wonder what those yellow stems are\u2026They are \u2018grabbers\u2019 that latch on to your lung cells<\/div>\n
and then allow the Covid 19 Virus to squeeze into lung cells.  In other words those \u2018grabbers\u2019 are<\/div>\n
not nice.  In many cases infected people do not even know the Covid Virus is in their lungs.<\/div>\n

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TWO QUESTIONS<\/div>\n

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 1) How Long Does the COVID Virus Live?<\/a>\u201d<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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 On October 16 ,2020  Australian study says the SARS COVID 2  virus can live for 28 days (Oct. 16, 2020)<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n

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2)  How much space would be needed if we gathered all the Corona Viruses in the world??”<\/div>\n

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\u201cSuppose we gathered all the Corona Virus on the earth right now.  How much space would we<\/div>\n
need to keep them?\u201d\u201d<\/div>\n

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Below is the answer given by mathematician Chrisitan Yates<\/div>\n

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\"Picture<\/div>\n

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If you collected up every Sars-CoV-2 virus particle in the world, it would fit inside a soft drinks can, writes the mathematician Christian Yates.<\/div>\n
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W<\/div>\n
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When I was asked to calculate the total volume of Sars-CoV-2 in the world for the BBC Radio 4 show More or Less<\/a>, I will admit I had no idea what the answer would be. My wife suggested it would be the size of an Olympic swimming pool. “Either that or a teaspoon,” she said. “It\u2019s usually one or the other with these sorts of questions.”<\/p>\n

So how to set about calculating an approximation of what the total volume really is?<\/p>\n

Fortunately, I have some form with these sorts of large-scale back-of-the-envelope estimations, having carried out a number of them for my book The Maths of Life and Death. Before we embark on this particular numerical journey, though, I should be clear that this is an approximation based on the most reasonable assumptions, but I will happily admit there may be places where it can be improved.<\/p>\n

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