[pct-l] Shiny Wine Box Bladders

[campy@mtnhighwest.com (campy)]

Brick Robbins <brick@fastpack.com> wrote:

> Subject: [pct-l] Shiny Wine Box Bladders
>
> At 06:33 AM 10/26/01, you wrote:
> >The one shiny
> >bag was left virtually unprotected under a ledge, but it wasn't even
> >touched! Our theory is that a squirrel saw the mirror image of himself
> >in the shiny bag and ran away.
>
> The shiny "stuff" is a  plastic/metal sandwich called Mylar
> (....technically: Mylar is a plastic called polyethylene terephthalate and
> comes with or without the metal, but most of us only notice the metalized
> stuff).
>
> Regular plastic "breathes" (ie is gas permeable) so the squirrels could
> smell the water inside.
> Mylar does NOT breathe, so the squirrels couldn't smell the water, and left
> it alone.
>
> See http://www.darylscience.com/VanillaBalloon.html for an experiment that
> demonstrates this in a way even human noses can detect.
>
> This lack of breathing is why Mylar helium balloons stay inflated, while
> rubber helium balloons go flat quickly. The helium cannot get through the
> Mylar.  Helium (He) is one of the smallest molecules, so if it cannot get
> through Mylar, larger stuff like Oxygen and Water don't have a chance.
>
> This is the same reason that freeze dried food comes in Mylar pouches. With
> the oxygen absorber packed inside (the thing with "do not eat" printed on
> it) oxygen can't get in to ruin the food, and it stays good forever.....
>
> See
> http://www.dupontteijinfilms.com/datasheets/mylar/productinfo/properties/h37250-1.pdf
> for more information on Mylar.
>
> --
> Brick Robbins                       mailto:brick@fastpack.com

Thanks Brick.

That was our second theory (heh-heh).