Kate Wing's Blog
Acid trip
December 14, 2007
Posted by Kate Wing in Reviving the World's Oceans
Back at the aforementioned lab, we occasionally put the equipment to uses for which it was not, strictly speaking, fully authorized. One of which was testing the pH of soft drinks. There's that old tale that you can use Coca-Cola as a form of birth control and we were scientists, burning with curiosity. Not that pH alone is the key to an effective spermicide, nor am I in any way advocating off-label uses of soda, but suffice it to say that we determined the pH of a nice cold, Diet Coke to be 2.3, with regular Coke slightly less acidic.
I am reminded of those innocent times by the latest report on ocean acidification, which is like turning the ocean into Diet Coke. Refreshing for you, perhaps, but not so much for the little tiny critters whose shells are dissolving. And a particular problem for corals, who are hit with a series of plagues from global warming: warmer water temperatures make them more susceptible to diseases, bleaching is on the rise, and now they're losing their carbon skeletons. 2008 is shaping up to be the International Year of the rapidly-disappearing Reef.
I'd say "go hug a reef before they're gone" but reefs don't like that so much. Fragile they are, and easily broken by trampling. Plus, the wobbegongs might get you.
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