The four essential materials of the modern world and fossil fuels

[MillCreek]

https://time.com/6175734/reliance-on-fossil-fuels/

Plastic, cement, steel and ammonia are the four essentials.  I did not guess the ammonia.  I thought the fourth would be silicon for electronic components. 

[lee n. field]

without looking, agriculture, and a chemical precursor to a lot of other things.

[Nick1911]

40-50% of the nitrogen atoms in your body came out of a haber bosch reactor, which produces ammonia from atmospheric nitrogen and hydrogen.

If you asked me to list the 5 most important inventions of the 20th century, that process would probably be on it.

I'll add that I kinda disagree with the conjecture that these four essentials can't exist without fossil fuels.  They all require energy inputs and raw feedstock.  Fossil fuels are used because they are the cheapest source of energy.  Kilning limestone into cement?  Needs heat input.  Plastics need organic molecules to polymerize, but you can get that from living things.  And indeed, we do make plastics from bio sources.  Hydrogen for haber bosch can come from water, it doesn't have to come from methane.  And electric steel furnaces are already a thing, although I'm sketchy if that works with raw ore.

[kgbsquirrel]

https://time.com/6175734/reliance-on-fossil-fuels/

Plastic, cement, steel and ammonia are the four essentials.  I did not guess the ammonia.  I thought the fourth would be silicon for electronic components.

And helium, which is needed for higher technologies.  Almost all of our helium production is a byproduct of petroleum extraction and refinement.

[K Frame]

"But it is ammonia that deserves the top position as our most important material: its synthesis is the basis of all nitrogen fertilizers, and without their applications it would be impossible to feed, at current levels, nearly half of today’s nearly 8 billion people."

So Joe Biden's war on fossil fuels is really a war on humanity.

If he can realize his dream of crushing fossil fuels, not just in the US but worldwide, he can reduce world wide population, cut global emissions dramatically, and take a positive step and corralling climate change.

Now we know the truth of his dementia dream.

He's actual a monster.

[Devonai]

Can't we just poop on our gardens?

[Ben]

Can't we just poop on our gardens?

I think you kid, but the current administration thinks poop is the answer to fertilizer shortages in the ag industry.

[zahc]

Bo surprise to me. We have basically evolved to eat oil. Been that way for a long time now.

[Pb]

Can't we just poop on our gardens?

It needs to be treated to reduce the risk of food contamination.

[K Frame]

Isn't migrant labor crapping in the fields the biggest reason we have e coli and other nasty bug outbreaks in bagged and fresh vegetables?

Sure, let's everyone do that!

[Fly320s]

Can't we just poop on our gardens?

Already happening.  Many places use treated human sewage as a fertilizer.  NH allows it.

[MillCreek]

And helium, which is needed for higher technologies.  Almost all of our helium production is a byproduct of petroleum extraction and refinement.

When maintenance is done on our MRI scanners, they take great pains to capture all of the liquid helium used to cool the magnets.  None of this venting to the atmosphere stuff.

[Ben]

When maintenance is done on our MRI scanners, they take great pains to capture all of the liquid helium used to cool the magnets.  None of this venting to the atmosphere stuff.

https://youtu.be/l82OgpqvRok

[charby]

Can't we just poop on our gardens?

https://www.milorganite.com/

[WLJ]

Can't we just poop on our gardens?

Tried that, neighbors kept calling the cops.

[kgbsquirrel]

When maintenance is done on our MRI scanners, they take great pains to capture all of the liquid helium used to cool the magnets.  None of this venting to the atmosphere stuff.

And you still lose a bunch.  The machine is losing helium right now.  The atom is so small and slippery that we can not make a container good enough to prevent all loss.  And since all the technology that uses it is also constantly losing it, we need a steady supply to keep that tech working.  Killing the petroleum industry kills that supply.

[charby]

And you still lose a bunch.  The machine is losing helium right now.  The atom is so small and slippery that we can not make a container good enough to prevent all loss.  And since all the technology that uses it is also constantly losing it, we need a steady supply to keep that tech working.  Killing the petroleum industry kills that supply.

Can helium be cryogenically mined from the atmosphere like they do with N, CO2, O2, and some of the noble gases?

[Nick1911]

Can helium be cryogenically mined from the atmosphere like they do with N, CO2, O2, and some of the noble gases?

I think hydrogen and helium both get lost to space out of the atmosphere. 

[kgbsquirrel]

Can helium be cryogenically mined from the atmosphere like they do with N, CO2, O2, and some of the noble gases?

Nope, 5ppm is just too low for economical air extraction.  And it won't get higher as it goes straight up to the top of the atmosphere and is blown off by the solar wind.

All present earthly reserves of helium are subterranean; it is the byproduct of radioactive decay and a significant quantity ends up dissolved in petroleum or entrained in rock while a regular amount is exuded into the air by the ground (and then blown off by the solar winds, to the tune of 1500 tons a year). 

United States petroleum extraction accounts for 70% of the world's production of helium.

[charby]

Nope, 5ppm is just too low for economical air extraction.  And it won't get higher as it goes straight up to the top of the atmosphere and is blown off by the solar wind.

All present earthly reserves of helium are subterranean; it is the byproduct of radioactive decay and a significant quantity ends up dissolved in petroleum or entrained in rock while a regular amount is exuded into the air by the ground (and then blown off by the solar winds, to the tune of 1500 tons a year). 

United States petroleum extraction accounts for 70% of the world's production of helium.

Thanks, I was just curious.

[Ben]

United States petroleum extraction accounts for 70% of the world's production of helium.

That damn big oil again! 

[MillCreek]

https://jpt.spe.org/rarefied-air-drilling-for-helium-in-north-america

This was an interesting article. Maybe we should all invest in helium futures. If nothing else, we can sound like Alvin the chipmunk.

[Boomhauer]

"But it is ammonia that deserves the top position as our most important material: its synthesis is the basis of all nitrogen fertilizers, and without their applications it would be impossible to feed, at current levels, nearly half of today’s nearly 8 billion people."

So Joe Biden's war on fossil fuels is really a war on humanity.

If he can realize his dream of crushing fossil fuels, not just in the US but worldwide, he can reduce world wide population, cut global emissions dramatically, and take a positive step and corralling climate change.

Now we know the truth of his dementia dream.

He's actual a monster.

He truly is and the liberals cheer it on as a “good thing”

[gunsmith]

according to google-we are running out of helium.

[230RN]

^
No problem.  All we have to do is detonate more H-bombs.

Or conquer the cold fusion power process.

K-frame noted:

"Now we know the truth of his dementia dream.

He's actually a monster."

True, but let's not forget the explanation: That Communism arises from stressed populations and that's his and his puppet masters' ultimate goal:  To present Communism as a solution to the troubles created by Leftist philosophies in the first place.

They realize only us dangerous extremist right-wingers know that, so they exert every effort to marginalize us.  And they have willing accomplices in the main stream media.

Terry said that and he ain't takin' it back.

"We have given you a Republic, Ma'am... if you can keep it."¹

"Just you wite 'Enry 'Iggins, just you wite."²

-----------------

1.  A line from the Ben Franklin character in the movie "1776."

2.  A line from Eliza Doolittle in the movie version of "Pygmalion."