Claim #2- Fun With Math
Claim #2-
A predicted 3” rain in Siskiyou County, California, was dried up by jets spraying barium, which is a desiccant.
Michael J. Murphy said:
@ 17:00 The story I wanted to share with you is about Dane Wigington, who is a solar power expert and he’s also worked in lightning suppression, so he’s studied weather and he has 2000 acres overlooking Lake Shasta and we interviewed him and it’s very sad because much of the plant life there is dying off, but we spent a couple of days there in the late fall and on his property there was a big winter storm that was coming in and I think it was projected to drop 3” of rain. And when we woke up in the morning he said, “Michael, what do you hear?, and I said “I hear jets”, and he said “we are not at all in a flight path, but you will hear these jets flying by all day, its very common,” and what he said was, “What I think they are doing is seeding the clouds, sequestering the moisture, you see, barium is a desiccant, and it will change the molecular structure of the clouds so it will not rain.”
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/finteg...rphy-and-g-edward-griffin-chemtrails-revealed
This is not the only time Murphy has referenced this claim. In his Youtube video, “Hawaii Revisited”, he said:
Michael J. Murphy said:
@8:40 “They can steer storms, barium is a desiccant as well, so typically in Northern California, when the rain storms come in, it’s very common to hear airplanes flying over these clouds and its amazing in the past couple of years when these storms come in, they usually bring about 3” of rain, now they are getting a quarter inch, a half inch, not much rain........ Its hurting people, its killing people, and many people have died from this. What do you think people would do if they found out that there might be corporations behind their incredible losses?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-0XEQP3igk
Is Murphy’s claim plausible, or not? He is obviously unfamiliar with chemistry and aviation, and his comments also show that he doesn’t actually know anything barium. This is odd, especially since he has been making claims about barium for years.
The facts are that while barium metal does react with water, it is not a very good desiccant, while barium oxide is! I actually think that barium oxide is what Murphy refers to. So let’s just see what Murphy’s claim comes down to on paper.
What would be required to use barium oxide as a desiccant sprayed from an airplane to “sequester” a 3” rain down to a ½” rain?
First, we are trying to subtract a 3” rain minus ½”, so that equals 2 & ½ inches of rain. A 1” rain falling over one square mile yields 17.38 million gallons of water:
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthrain.html
17, 380,000 gallons x 2 & 1/2” of rain equals 43,450,000 gallons of water. Hmmm, these numbers are already starting to look pretty big, eh, and this is only the amount of water that would fall over one square mile!
Now for the chemistry, remember high school, folks? Maybe Michael slept through this one…..
Here is the chemical equation for barium oxide reacting with water:
BaO (s) + 2 HOH (l) ---> Ba(OH)2
So, one mole of barium oxide will react with one mole of water to produce one mole of barium hydroxide.
The molecular weight of water is 18 grams/ mole.
The molecular weight of barium oxide is 153 grams/mole.
Water weighs 3780 grams/gallon, so 43,450,000 gallons of water weighs
43,450,000 x 3780 gm/gal. = 164,241,000,000 grams
164,241,000,000 grams / 18 gm./mole = 912,450,000 moles
So, 912,450,000 moles of water will react with 912,450,000 moles of barium oxide.
How much does 912,450,000 moles of barium oxide weigh?
912,450,000 moles of barium oxide x 1/153 grams/mole = 5,9637,254 grams
Converting grams to pounds:
5,9637,254 grams/ 3780 = 131,649 pounds
So, reacting 2 & 1/2 inches of rain over one square mile requires 131,649 pounds of barium oxide.
Siskiyou County contains 6,347 square miles. To adsorb the water for Siskiyou County, where Murphy says the incident occurred.:
131,649lbs./sq.mi. x 6,347 sq. mi. = 835,579,816 lbs.
How many flights would Murphy’s claim require?
A 747 cargo jet can carry 124 tons, 248,000 lbs.
835,579,816 lbs./248,000 lbs/flight = 3369 flights
Conclusion: Michael J. Murphy’s claim that jets spraying barium(oxide) could have reduced rainfall by 2 & ½ inches over Siskiyou County would require 3369 flights of 747 cargo class jets. The claim is quite simply preposterous. This example is just one of many in which people who believe in chemtrails appear to simply repeat what others say with no proof or rational examination whatsoever.
Murphy's statement that, "Its hurting people, its killing people, and many people have died from this. What do you think people would do if they found out that there might be corporations behind their incredible losses?”, sounds like a provocation. He bears the responsibility for these statements, because besides being baseless, they are very reckless to make towards his target audience of known gullibles.