Cultural "diversity" will kill any hope of the Mars settlement becoming an independent self-governing entity.
We need cultural unity. Essentially it should be something similar to an American campus, with a bias towards scientific culture. I mean in the sense that people are focussed on their subject area and progressing in their chosen field and there is essentially a single language of communication across the campus. Race and ethnic background should be given a very low cultural value on Mars, though I believe we do need to ensure all races on Earth are represented on Mars. The emphasis should be on the "big tasks": life support and survival, growing food, achieving self-sufficiency in industry, exploration, reproduction and terraformation. That will help develop cultural coherence. The cultural coherence will be enhanced by the existential nature of the tasks (ie if you don't tackle the tasks, you and your community die).
Happened on this http://starcity.mit.edu/
Back to Sagan city which is long after the hard stuff has been done with getting a toehold on mars. Such things as the making of soap is part of the foothold to gaining independance from earths supply train. Its up to the hearty worker man that will not be given a chance as its out of there price range and the rich are going for the joy ride.
]]>Other features of the early Sagan City:
1. A sculpture park - part pressurised environment, part outside.
2. Outside areas will be "humanised" through brick paving, sculptures, artificial trees and bushes, and nocturnal lighting.
]]>This was a regularly-scheduled lab supervised by the teacher. Somehow or another, the stuff we made could be squeezed together into a bar. Nobody got hurt, and we actually used the soap to wash our hands. It worked at least as good as anything else available at that time.
Same class: we also made aspirin. But the teacher very pointedly told us not to take it. It was impure, and would give you a headache. Not relieve one.
We also built stills, blew up sodium in water, and a whole lot of other fun stuff.
All in all, I cannot say education has improved since then. You learn by doing, and today you are not allowed to do those things by the nanny state.
Back then, nobody sued anybody if little Bobby burnt or cut his finger in chemistry or physics or biology lab. They just told little Bobby not to be so stupid next time.
As late as 1997, I taught college labs where we made real stuff. One was a Reid vapor pressure lab exercise. It required heating closed containers on a stovetop containing gasoline under air. That's literally how you do the Reid vapor pressure test, there is no other way. I had to watch like a hawk because of gasoline and electricity, but NO ONE ever got hurt in my lab.
Another was composite materials. It was hard to get it through their heads that epoxy systems are usually near 1:1 resin: hardener, while polyester and vinyl ester systems are resin plus only a trace catalyst. Lots of 1:1 over-catalyzed mix cup fires, and lots of epoxy projects that no oven could ever cure, but NO ONE ever got hurt in my labs.
You just watch 'em closely. With a fire extinguisher and a first aid kit handy. Simple as that.
GW
]]>Thanks for the link. My daughter will undoubtedly want to try some of those recipes.
]]>They leave some of it in, but not all.
Read the linked web page for Miller's Homemade Soap. It describes in detail how to make soap.
]]>]]>Soap as made by reaction of triglycerides (oils and fats) with caustic will contain the byproduct glycerine. The result is known as soft soap. You can't make cakes of it until you remove the glycerine, but it still works for washing people or materials.
Excel spreadsheet template (vegetable oils & animal oils/fats): soapsheet3.xlt
Trying to find a table of fatty acids in various oils and fats. I had it years ago; where is it? Anyway, making soap with animal fat (such as lard) requires heating it to melt the fat. Working with hot fat can be dangerous. It's safer to start with oil that's liquid at room temperature. Soap making does require pouring lye into oil to create a chemical reaction. For it to work, the lye must be strong enough for the reaction. Doing that with hot melted fat could be dangerous, you don't want to splash any onto yourself. At least that's what I read as a caution for a beginner.
]]>https://wholefoodcatalog.info/nutrient/ … ds/high/2/
Isn't the lesson of the Impossible Burger that we can normally find v. good substitutes for animal products in the non-animal world? And even if we can't do that we can recreate the chemicals in the lab...
Solid soaps require significant quantities of either Palmitic acid and Stearic acid as the fatty acid components in the starting triglyceride. Both are found in animal fats, along with smaller quantities of Lauric acid, the C-12 member of the homologous series. Polyunsaturated fats, such as those found in vegetable oils, make "soft soaps." The other significant product of saponification, as "soap making" is called in the laboratory. Those wishing to try their luck can buy some lard as the starting material.