Is chlorine only responsible for the characteristic smell in swimming pools? It turns out that, in part, it is also related to urine. «You see, people pee in the pools» — emphasizes the chemist, and his words confirm the data. How many people are actually peeing in the pool and what are the consequences for our health? We explain.
- Urine is mostly water. The remaining part (i.e. about 2%) is made up of nitrogen compounds such as urea and ammonia
- It turns out that these compounds can react with chlorine, creating, among others, chloramine, nitrosamines and chlorocyan. The latter is classified as a combat gas and may irritate the eyes and upper respiratory tract
- However, its presence in swimming pools is negligible, and the concentration of chlorocyan in the swimming pool water, which is dangerous for humans, is virtually impossible to achieve.
- However, scientists emphasize that «urinating in the pool is just a bad habit«. In the US, 19 percent admit to peeing in the swimming pool. population
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Pissing in the pool is kind of taboo. Nobody wants to admit it, but some adults, when using the pool, do not intend to leave it and kill themselves … in the water in which they swim. According to Dawid Myśliwiec, a doctor of chemistry who has run the popular science channel on YouTube for years — “Attention! Scientific Gibberish » — 19 percent admitted to peeing in the swimming pool in an anonymous poll. Americans.
In addition to causing justified disgust, does the urine in which we swim endanger us in any way?
Combat gas in the pool?
Urine is mostly water. The remaining part, i.e. about 2%, consists of nitrogen compounds such as urea and ammonia. It turns out that these compounds can react with chlorine, creating, among others, chloramine — responsible for the intense smell of chlorine — nitrosamines and chlorocyan.
The latter is included in the group of poisonous warfare agents and may cause eye irritation and the upper respiratory tract. Before we panic, however, it should be emphasized that the amount of this combat gas in the pool is really negligible.
In one laboratory study, scientists found that the highest concentration of chlorocyanin they could get from combining chlorine with urine, is only a third of the maximum concentration of chlorocyan in drinking water allowed by the World Health Organization (which is 70 mg per liter). It is worth noting that this was the maximum obtained in the laboratory, and not in real pool water.
So that chlorocyan can really harm us — which was very vividly presented in his material by Dawid Myśliwiec, explaining that we would simply dissolve — as many as three million people would have to urinate into an Olympic-sized swimming pool at the same time. The bass itself, however, would have to be filled with a third of chlorine instead of water.
According to Prevention.com, Professor Mark Conroy of the Ohio Wexner State University Medical Center in Columbus also points out that it is not just urine that contains compounds that can react with chlorine. The urea present in its composition is also present in an equally small part in sweat.
Regardless of the reactions, Professor Conroy emphasizes that «urinating in the pool is just a bad habit«.
How much urine actually is there in the pool?
Now that we know that the urine in the pool does not pose a threat to us, there is only a question of the disgust that this phenomenon can cause. The question may also arise how much urine is actually in the pool.
As Dawid Myśliwiec explains from the channel «Attention! Scientific Bełkot », thanks to the popular sweetener called acesulfame K, scientists were able to determine how many liters of urine can be found in an Olympic pool, containing at least three million liters of water.
After ingestion, Acesulfame K is excreted from our body — incl. with urine — practically unchanged. Scientists therefore examined the content of this compound in the urine of Canadians, and then analyzed its content in Canadian pools. Their findings show that in the Olympic swimming pool, urine amounts to 150 to 250 liters. Per glass of swimming pool water — according to this study — it would only contain a quarter of a drop of urine — explains the fighter.
What’s in your urine? Perform a shipment inspection and check. This simple test will detect many serious diseases.
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