I hate to post about the dog two days in a row.
But regrettably he remains relevant.
It is one of the truisms of life that a terrier’s personal hygiene is not a human’s personal hygiene. Many humans shower at least once a day; they use deodorant. On the whole, they steer clear of substances that come out of the wrong end of other creatures.
But to render himself irresistible to his peers, Macaulay must shower as little as caninely possible. He must seek out deeply doubtful or decaying substances and use them as a sort of cologne. I have mentioned before his painstaking labour of love as he builds up a patina of odour over days and weeks which impresses the bejeezers out of any other dog at 50 paces.
Above all- imperatively – he must not smell of human perfume. It is the equivalent of dressing up in an old shapeless anorak and writing down train numbers.
What is more, his sensitive skin complains every time we give him a shower. He sits and scratches as if he were hosting an army of small creatures for weeks after a landmark shower event.
And so he, and we, face a dilemma. We shower him, we show him up in the face of his community. But if we don’t, anyone petting the angelic little dog who trots so engagingly at our heels will leave hurriedly with a hand that smells like a barnyard.
And this has been our Hobson’s choice: until now. And the event of microbubbles.
While chemistry has cleaned our dog until now, it is physics which aids the microbubble in its miniscule crusade.
For microbubbles are simplicity itself: less than 50 microns across, they are filled with oxygen or just plain old air. And they can stay suspended in water for some time.
But when they’re that small, it seems, they possess the siren call of an electrical charge.
And any suspended floating particle finds them utterly irresistible.
Just think of the applications, Meester Bond.
The suspended floating particles, for example, of sewage in water. Microbubbles can infiltrate the villainous particles which cause disease and olfactory misery. They are drawn to the bubbles like the Millennium Falcon to the Death Star, and then, inexorably, the bubbles cause the sewage to rise to the surface, leaving purer water beneath.
Unbelievably, microbubbles of pure oxygen and about two per cent ozone can be used to neutralise viruses in oysters and shellfish. It could replace the chlorine-based germicide which is so often used, making those seafood paellas conisitently safe and pure.
The battle to fight cancer is making use of this tiny charged warrior. If one injects microbubbles into the bloodstream, they collect around a cancer lesion and highlight it for the scanner, making it incredibly visible and detectable.
And- you may have jumped ahead of me – they can be used instead of soap, penetrating deeply yet harmlessly into the skin for a fabulous soap-free clean.
This includes dogs. New microbubble jacuzzis are on the cards, it seems: and pet parlours the world over are clamouring for them.
According to Japanese company Suwa Precision Engineering Component Manufacturers, work is well advanced on bubble generators for the home.
They are the answer to the problems of our family and its smelly dog. They will make all those doubtful substances follow, Pied-Piper-like, into the bath and away down the plughole.
It beggars belief that a bubble of gas could be so powerful. That is, until you have met the superbubble concept.
So a research fellow at Ohio University, Yurii Pidopryhora, spent a lot of time with a very big telescope indeed back in 2006.
Using West Virginia’s Green Bank Telescope, he spotted a formation which might be anything from 10 to 30 million years old. It stretched nearly 10,000 light years above the plane of the Milky Way.
A superbubble is an immense, vast cavity filled with gas.
It is created, not by puny bubble generators, but by the explosion of stars and the gas they eject, poetically dubbed stellar winds.
A bubble blown by the winds of a star.
The Green Bank Telescope team looked at hydrogen gas in the area to supplement their analysis.
Dr Pidopryhora said: “We see that all the hydrogen gas in this region of the Galaxy is disturbed, with many smaller outflows closer to the plane of the Galaxy and then a giant plume of gas that forms a sort of cap on the whole thing,”
We take the humble bubble for granted, out little utilitarian friend which helps us wash and clean; which entertains our little ones.
But on the very smallest scale, and the largest, they are veritable superstars.
Vive la bubble: on every scale.
Written in response to Side View’s challenge for this week: ‘Bubbles’. You can find her unfailingly diverting challenges here
Kate Shrewsday 
If I had taken Side View’s challenge, I would have written about bubble bath or soap suds or some other pedestrian topic. It must be nice to have Deep Thoughts and Substance.
Kathy, I have neither of the above, just a smelly dog who needs cleaning 😀
oh WOW! again Kate opens doors to new wonders. Wonderful stuff.
There is a reason my nickname once was superbubble 😉
It must have been your immense presence, Sidey. I am absolutely sure it had nothing to do with stellar winds.
no it had to do with technology. maybe a story to tell?
Very interesting, Kate. Science is constantly advancing to my amazement!
I know. Washing dogs without soap. who’da thought it…
Maybe we need to see the return of Bubble Cars? Within these individual places of haven we could suitably oblute whilst moving from space to space. I can see an extra 10 minutes in bed on the horizon 😉
What a lovely concept!
Now that’s lateral, Nuuvofelt. All we need now is a bubble car bubble generator.
I hate bathing my dogs so I am glad to know this 🙂
They will be so thrilled, Tilly….
Great goodness, you do believe in taking a topic all the way between its most micro and macro limits, don’t you?
I found superbubbles, Col, which tickled my fancy: and from there it was a hop, skip an a jump to microbubbles. Simples.
The lack of an author-editing facility on comments here irritates the heck out of me!
I don’t normally use the word WOW Kate, but I am amazed to learn about these bubbles – a revelation – thanks. I also had a good Sunday morning chuckle at that lovely little canine of yours.
Wherease I use wow in every other sentence 😀 The world is a truly awe inspiring place, isn’t it, Rosemary. The dog’s job it to keep our feet firmly planted on the ground.
….until a home version of the micro bubbler is invented then Kate, you could always squirt him with the soda siphon….
Pseu, occasionally you are little short of genius. Even if it doesn’t work it will be highly entertaining.
don’t forget to video it 🙂
Excellent as a dog lover I think this is a great post 😉
The no win dilema which most dog owners muddle over.
😀 No win is right, Gobetween! Thanks for coming over- loved that little hedgehog over at your bubble post!
As always, I smiled and I learned things reading your post today. Then I returned to my email in-box to retrieve my daily mailing from Townhall.com and found . . . more on bubbles!
http://townhall.com/columnists/debrajsaunders/2011/11/27/inside_oakland_bubble,_all_free_speech_isnt_equal and
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/mikeshedlock/2011/11/27/pop_goes_the_global_housing_bubble
It has been a bubbly morning, and all before 9:00 a.m. 🙂
Bubbles in all kinds of places,Karen: bubbles to keep people out, bubbles to preserve an artificial situation. So many uses for this humble structure. Do your remember The Prisoner?
Meant to come back and answer your question yesterday; then got busy and forgot. ;(
I had to Google The Prisoner in order to learn about it. I was not watching as much TV in those days – still had one child at home and a full-time job. The series sounds intriguing though, so maybe I’ll try to locate it one of these days and see what I missed.
I’ve never heard of these. Off to expand my brain a little bit more from reading your blog. 🙂 Creative response to Sidey’s challenge.
Thanks Andra :-)There’s a whole world of bubbles out there….
Scrubbing Bubbles! Excellent post, Kate.
Thanks, Nancy 🙂
Wow, how enlightening, thanks Kate…I’ll be keeping an eye out for the micro bubbles, with the other firmly fixed on Quest! He is licking as we speak, following a weekend full of walking and swimming at the park 🙂
Hi, I’m going to send this to my friend she was talking about her dog disliking deodorising shampoo yesterday – because she as in dog can’t get away from the smell afterwards and prefers mud or animal poo as ‘perfume’.
Dear Kate,
The store of knowledge you possess and your ability to transition from specific happenings in your life to a more general appraisal of phenomena never–I mean NEVER–cease to amaze me. You see linkages that elude me until you so wittingly and seamlessly tie them to the daily aspects of our lives. You are a wonder, Kate!
Learning about a superbubble that is from 10 to 30 million years old and stretches nearly 10,000 light years above the plane of the Milky Way is almost more than my wee noggin can handle. But when I get to the following sentence which you wrote so beautifully then my noggin truly explodes in admiration. The sentence? “A bubble blown by the winds of a star.”
Peace.
I had never really taken notice of the concept of a stellar wind before, Dee. Very beautiful thought. Truly noggin-expanding 🙂
If the micro-bubbles you describe could find application in pursuit of the home cleaning practice, I’d be thrilled! There is nothing more frustrating to me than wanting to sit and read posts as wonderful as yours are Kate, and to realize that I must at least once in a while jump in for some housekeeping chores! Maybe micro bubbles can become my “super” bubbles…Macaulay is always enjoyed, even two days in a row! Debra
I am the same as Tilly! I hate to bathe my dog because she is always rolling in decaying substance! This is very nice to know!
Who knew!? What a great solution. Hope to hear lots more about it. Thanks, Macaulay…look what your smelly ol’ bod is doing for the blogosphere~
I must smile at your pup’s determination, esp as I type with one hand cuz my pup is determined to have her head rubbed! The injection for radiology purposes is most interesting… you are are such a brilliant blogger, Kate. ~
Bring it on – can’t wait for the bubble machine (and the dogs will be over the moon – well, maybe not!)
Fascinating. I’ve always loved bubbles. From a smelly dog to stellar winds. Kate, I’m as blown as a bubble. And while I don’t usually do this, maybe you’d like to go watch a short film I made, ‘The Bubble Boy’ here – http://batulm.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/luck-by-chance-2009/
The fascinating science of bubbles! Who knew? Well, of course, you did Kate. 🙂 And “regrettably relevant” Macauley can now smell fresh as new laundry without all the ick of a soapy bath. Great post!!
I’m forever blowing bubbles…. What an interesting post.
Thanks, Egprobs….I’m waiting for your next post with bated breath….an Embroiderer’s Guild member!