The more you know...(about ozone)
Today is “Learn Something New Day,” apparently. After my run-in with the paper cutter, I called my mother to bitch. Of course, being the caring mother she worried about whether I had properly disinfected the cut, as those instruments can “be unclean suckers!”
I figured maybe sticking my gushing thumb in my mouth (I do not recommend a blood breakfast on an empty stomach), coupled with running it under tap water for 2 seconds would suffice. Fortunately (or not, depending on how you look at it), I had a dentist appointment the same day. Apparently I’m punishing myself - my tooth broke earlier this week. Upon seeing my poorly dressed thumb, the dentist astutely noted, “You did that yourself. Here, after the procedure stick around for a few minutes and I can help.” Turns out - brace yourselves - that dentists can sometimes do things regular MDs can do! I KNOW, RIGHT!
At first I was skeptical, but then he reminded me that he performs oral surgery nearly every day, and is therefore equipped to attend to minor wounds and their healing. He offered to treat me with ozone gas (delivered via a very dental-looking hissing tube) and ozone oil (delivered via a cue tip). Seeing nothing to lose, except the feature that sets me apart from lower animals on one hand (but, I mean, that’s why we have 2, right?), I accepted.
Turns out that the application of straight-up O3 is gaining hold in the medical industry as a state of the art antiseptic and antimicrobial treatment. There’s a whole lot this stuff can do, check it out:
Industrially, ozone is used to:
- Disinfect laundry in hospitals, food factories, care homes etc;[45]
- Disinfect water in place of chlorine[6]
- Deodorize air and objects, such as after a fire. This process is extensively used in Fabric Restoration
- Kill bacteria on food or on contact surfaces;[46]
- Sanitize swimming pools and spas
- Kill insects in stored grain[47]
- Scrub yeast and mold spores from the air in food processing plants;
- Wash fresh fruits and vegetables to kill yeast, mold and bacteria;[46]
- Chemically attack contaminants in water (iron, arsenic, hydrogen sulfide, nitrites, and complex organics lumped together as “colour”);
- Provide an aid to flocculation (agglomeration of molecules, which aids in filtration, where the iron and arsenic are removed);
- Manufacture chemical compounds via chemical synthesis[48]
- Clean and bleach fabrics (the former use is utilized in Fabric Restoration; the latter use is patented);
- Assist in processing plastics to allow adhesion of inks;
- Age rubber samples to determine the useful life of a batch of rubber;
- Eradicate water borne parasites such as Giardia lamblia and Cryptosporidium in surface water treatment plants. (via Wikipedia)
So there you have it. Next time you flocculate, don’t forgot the O3…
1 month ago