Time Out

[winkle]

saw this on the net

dairy cows can produce up to 200 lbs of farts and burps a day

i always thought that they can be very hard to catch

i've hardly eaver seen one so

my question is

how the heck do you go about weighing a fart

[ovyyus]

cow farts are pretty wet - lol

[Wheeler]

The formula is

(W=f*t/size of cow)
or E=mc^2
E=estimated size of cow
mc=amount of mulch chewed per day

JB Wheeler 2006

[winkle]

i was looking at that again and i don't much belive what they said

cows don't even get close to eating 200 lbs a day so i don't see how they could pass that much gas

all though if fed enough beer and pickled eggs it might be possible

[Wheeler]

winkle
Quit fartin around and do the math!

The math is just like a ballon payment.
Hold back the big one.

[winkle]

all though i do know that a given amount of pickled eggs and beer in the gaseous state can seem much larger than they are

this odious matter may be to weighty for me to understand

[Wheeler]

Welcome to the world of Science!
We go where no man has been before.

[Vic Hays]

I think the more correct amount would be 60-70 liters of methane gas per day. While this will not power an automobile for long, cumulatively, with 3 billion cows, that is a lot of gas.

[winkle]

that sounds more believable but still a lot

don't think i'll be getting one on for a house pet

wonder if anybody has thought about putting beano in their feed

[ken_behrendt]

I also concur with Vic's estimate of 60 to 70 liters of methane per day per animal. When one considers all of the bovine beasts roaming our planet, then that is a lot of combustible material added the atmosphere per day. Who knows, maybe at some point in the future the concentration of methane in our atmosphere will reach the point where a single spark will ignite it all and blow up the atmosphere!


I'm envisioning a new system to collect this daily outgassing of bovine flatulence.

Each animal would be equipped with back containing a miniature solar powered compressor and storage tanks. There would also be a hose inserted into its anus with some sort of airtight fitting on it.

Just as soon as the animal farted, a microprocessor in the backpack would detect the pressure rise in the hose and activate the compressor. By the end of the day, the tanks the animal carried would be fully pressurized with methane gas. The tanks would be connected to an even bigger compressor that would then compress the collected gases until they liquified.

Tanker trucks could then deliver the compressed and liquified methane to regional distribution points from which it could be used to suppy our local gas stations. Then all we need are automobile engines that run on liquified natural bovine gas. Such automobile prototypes already exist.

Well, it won't do much to prevent Global Warming, but it will help lower the West's dependency on Middle Eastern oil and that, of course, will help reduce the cost of the latter.


ken

[ovyyus]

Who knows, maybe at some point in the future the concentration of methane in our atmosphere will reach the point where a single spark will ignite it all and blow up the atmosphere!

I predict that it will soon be determined that, in the far distant past, our moon sustained a thriving race of semi-intelligent cows. I say semi-intelligent because 20% of them were smokers.

[winkle]

Each animal would be equipped with back containing a miniature solar powered compressor and storage tanks. There would also be a hose inserted into its anus with some sort of airtight fitting on it.

Ken that airtight fitting might get you more than you bargained for

and could cause sever chaping

mabe just put a sparkplug back there and make you're own moo rocket to use for short trips

that might cause chaping to

Tanker trucks could then deliver the compressed and liquified methane to regional distribution points from which it could be used to suppy our local gas stations.

not to mention if one of those tanker trucks ever sprung a leak loaded with 8,000 gallons of liquified cow flatulence

just the thought of it makes me want to puke

[Wheeler]

http://209.157.64.201/focus/f-news/1658334/posts
Some solid stuff from Vermont

[winkle]

neat

who would have ever thought it

there is gold in them cow patties

[rlortie]

Ken,

I'm envisioning a new system to collect this daily outgassing of bovine flatulence.

I am starting out with a disclosure here first! As I understand it lower California is ahead of you. I have heard that Cow manure is collected into fermenting tanks and the methane is burned off producing steam which turns generators that put the end product into the grid.

I have so called Co-Generation plants near my locality, They burn coal or natural gas, produce electricity and then the steam is sent to near by potato processing plants.

The area is presently drawing a lot of dairyman from the Oregon coast as they are running out of room and the soil is low in mineral content.

I foresee a cow manure co-generation plant in this area for producing power and Bio-diesel in the near future. The proposals have already been presented to the public.

EDIT: By the way what is the difference between Natural gas and methane besides age?

Ralph