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I Forge Iron

Who would have thunk it.


SLAG

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 SLAG   here,

How about a bacterium that "eats" iron?

Check out this reference,

Metal-Eating Bacteria That Can Eat a Nail in Three Days Found in the Andes (msn.com)

Which goes to show that wherever there is a potential energy source,  there is usually some "creature" that has adapted to use it.

The discovery has potential for all manner of possibilities for us.

Sincerely,

SLAG.

 

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I wouldn't ever doubt there is some bio genetic engineer in a lab somewhere trying to create a faster petroleum eating bacteria.  Seems like they are working on about anything and everything. Bet we have the petroleum eating bacteria outbreak before the zombie virus outbreak.  

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(shhhhhh don't tell Daswulf; he'll be happier not knowing....In Cardiff, Wales, folks staggering along saying "Brains" is fairly common.)

Actually Larry Niven's Ringworld series has the creation and application of a targeted bacterium that destroyed a linchpin of the society's technology as a plot point.    If you would start hunting in landfills you might find precursors you could rev up.  Though it's still been very little time to evolve much.  (Why the natural oil seeps that have been around for ages are a better place for petroleum eating versions.)

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We're not forgetting how bog iron forms are we? That bacteria is pretty common where ever there are bogs. I'm waiting for one of my smart blacksmith brethren to gen. eng. one that turns out bog anvils. 

Same for plastic, just feed copper wire through a tank of infected oil and it comes out insulated and color coded. Different tanks of course, lets NOT be silly! <_< 

Frosty The Lucky.

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My "hometown" (nearby city) of Pittsburgh PA. Is pretty passionate about zombies, and there are events held on occasion.  Heard about them more pre-covid funny enough... if you could find that funny. 

Hmm. Lithium battery eating bacteria. That could be the power to spark an energizing novel. 

Not sure if it is just weathering, solar deterioration or some bacteria, but I've found that plastic tends to deteriorate around my area. It sure isn't safe to lift a bucket of steel that has been outside for a year or so. They fall right apart. Other plastics deteriorate fast too it seems. Even out of sunlight. 

Working on vehicles in PA. I've already noticed there is a steel eating (something or other) problem lol.

 

 

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"As a result, after two years of experimentation, the speed at which the bacteria could consume a nail had greatly increased. It was eventually able to consume the object completely in just three days."

  Maybe they could be sped up even further, adapted to other metals and used in the machining industry.  Training them to read and follow blueprints might be difficult though....  

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Messrs.

Mcostello, and Administrator Glenn,

The Archaeobacterium gets energy by oxidizing iron. That is rust or black iron oxide or both.

Many bugs can do this. But this bug does it at a ferocious pace.

Sincerely

SLAG.

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  • 1 month later...

I guess you have never visited an Amish furniture factory with all the power tools running off of compressed air? The compressor being run by an engine, not a motor. The older ones used a line shaft.  Lots of ways to get around the no-electricity rule.  I remember the first time I passed a group of Amish in a horse draw buggy drinking bottled water---I had a bit of cognitive dissonance too.

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The Amish also use hydraulic lines and motors running off a gas or diesel motor.

Remember that the ban on electricity is not simply a rejection of modern technology as such, but a rejection of a permanent connection with the rest of the world. This is the same reason that many Amish will have a telephone in a separate building, usually where their driveway meets the public road, so that they can conduct business by phone (and now sometimes by internet, depending on the strictness of the congregation) without having to have that permanent link within their own homes.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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