Strange Medical Tales From My Patients
I think I'll start writing short little tales about the funny things that happen to all my patients before I forget. Here's a short one to start.
Before the whole Snakes Liquids On A Plane debacle, our patients would often collect 24-hour urine samples while travelling from wherever they may be to our hospital. (Now they collect them before and mail a portion in or do it once they arrive; either option is a hassle.) At any rate, Mr. X was flying here from Florida. He had a Nalgene container he was collecting his urine in with him and had put it in a carry-on case, tightly sealed, with his other medical supplies and such. Now, while a plane is pressurized, it isn't quite as many Pascals as found at sea level where he tightly sealed the container.
''It's not?'', you ask. No, but you don't notice because you take so long to reach 35,000 feet and, while it's not as pressurized, it is close. Does anyone remember Pascal's equation?
P2 - P1 = -(ρ)(g)(h2-h1)
Basically, what this says is that fluid pressures at two points of a connected tube will stay the same if acted upon by an outside force provided there is a place for the fluid to go. Example: U-shaped tube filled with water and sealed with movable metal plates atop the water. You push on one, the other rises.
You can extrapolate from that law and the Ideal Gas Law that when the pressure on the outside of a container like that decreases, the volume of gas inside the container will try to expand to fill it.
Think on that for just a minute. I'll wait.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Back? Okay, you've guessed it by now. The lid to the Nalgene container full of urine popped off and urine went all over the overhead compartment. Poor Mr. X had to pay Delta a huge fine and started writing checks to all the people's stuff his urine contaminated. He was mortified, but later laughed to us about it.
I'll never forget that one.
Before the whole Snakes Liquids On A Plane debacle, our patients would often collect 24-hour urine samples while travelling from wherever they may be to our hospital. (Now they collect them before and mail a portion in or do it once they arrive; either option is a hassle.) At any rate, Mr. X was flying here from Florida. He had a Nalgene container he was collecting his urine in with him and had put it in a carry-on case, tightly sealed, with his other medical supplies and such. Now, while a plane is pressurized, it isn't quite as many Pascals as found at sea level where he tightly sealed the container.
''It's not?'', you ask. No, but you don't notice because you take so long to reach 35,000 feet and, while it's not as pressurized, it is close. Does anyone remember Pascal's equation?
P2 - P1 = -(ρ)(g)(h2-h1)
Basically, what this says is that fluid pressures at two points of a connected tube will stay the same if acted upon by an outside force provided there is a place for the fluid to go. Example: U-shaped tube filled with water and sealed with movable metal plates atop the water. You push on one, the other rises.
You can extrapolate from that law and the Ideal Gas Law that when the pressure on the outside of a container like that decreases, the volume of gas inside the container will try to expand to fill it.
Think on that for just a minute. I'll wait.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Back? Okay, you've guessed it by now. The lid to the Nalgene container full of urine popped off and urine went all over the overhead compartment. Poor Mr. X had to pay Delta a huge fine and started writing checks to all the people's stuff his urine contaminated. He was mortified, but later laughed to us about it.
I'll never forget that one.