Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by janrinok on Thursday March 27 2014, @10:56PM   Printer-friendly
from the admit-it-you've-done-it-too dept.

Papas Fritas writes:

Urine is sterile, and chlorine is sterilizing. At least that's the justification swimmers offer themselves, to counter their shame. What's more, decorated Olympic swimmers Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte admit they do it too. "It's kind of a normal thing to do with swimmers," says Phelps. "You know, when we're in the water for two hours we don't really get out, you know, to pee."

It turns out that it's a pretty bad idea, for more reasons than just the ick factor as Julie Beck writes that a new study published in the American Chemical Society's journal Environmental Science & Technology, has looked at the chemistry of what happens when urine meets chlorine, and it's not pretty. When researchers mixed uric acid, found in both urine and sweat, with chlorine, they found that both trichloramine and cyanogen chloride form within an hour. "We know that there are associations between some of these chemicals and adverse human health outcomes, so we're motivated to understand the chemistry behind their formation and decay," says Ernest Blatchley III.

Exposure to trichloramine has been linked to respiratory problems (PDF), and cyanogen chloride can adversely affect the lungs, central nervous system, and cardiovascular system. Another issue is if a lot of people are peeing in the pool, there's the potential for a lot of cyanogen chloride to form, depleting the chlorine in the pool. While the cyanogen chloride would normally decay quickly, less chlorine means it might stick around longer, and that could be a real problem. All of this is to say that peeing in the pool is not harmless, despite Phelps' and Lochte's claims that it's normal and everybody does it. "There's a lot of people in the swimming community who look up to these people and listen to what they have to say," says Blatchley "[Phelps and Lochte] are not chemists and shouldn't be making statements that are that false."

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Scareb on Thursday March 27 2014, @11:31PM

    by Scareb (981) on Thursday March 27 2014, @11:31PM (#22294)

    Chlorine itself in high enough concentration is bad for humans... dilute it in a large pool of water and not so much (if proportioned right)..

    Of course keeping with time honored tradition, I did not read TFS.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +2  
       Interesting=2, Total=2
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   3  
  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by stderr on Thursday March 27 2014, @11:52PM

    by stderr (11) on Thursday March 27 2014, @11:52PM (#22301) Journal

    ... dilute it in a large pool of water ...

    Wait a minute! That sounds like homeopathy [soylentnews.org].

    --
    alias sudo="echo make it yourself #" # ... and get off my lawn!
    • (Score: 2) by JeanCroix on Friday March 28 2014, @01:00PM

      by JeanCroix (573) on Friday March 28 2014, @01:00PM (#22484)
      From what I understand of homeopathy dilution levels, there'd be a much higher concentration of pee in a pool from a single incident, than the concentration of any actual ingredient in your standard homeopathic tincture.
  • (Score: 2, Informative) by gordo on Friday March 28 2014, @12:42AM

    by gordo (1169) on Friday March 28 2014, @12:42AM (#22319)

    Chlorine gas (Cl2) is lethal in even small amounts. Chlorine ions suspended in water are generally not.

    • (Score: 2) by snick on Friday March 28 2014, @12:52AM

      by snick (1408) on Friday March 28 2014, @12:52AM (#22322)

      Chlorine that has been introduced to sodium (another nasty piece of work when it is on its own) makes food tasty.

    • (Score: 2) by hankwang on Friday March 28 2014, @06:57AM

      by hankwang (100) on Friday March 28 2014, @06:57AM (#22404) Homepage

      "Chlorine gas (Cl2) is lethal in even small amounts. Chlorine ions suspended in water are generally not."

      What is your point? What you smell in a swimming pool is chlorine gas. In swimming pool water you have a chemical equilibrium between hypochlorite ions (ClO-) an chlorine molecules (Cl2). ChloriDe ions (Cl-) are there from sweat, urine, and as a reaction product after hypochlorite has oxidized other materials.