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With warmer weather here, the conversation about pools has begun. And I had a conversation with someone about pee reaction chemicals in pools. But then I thought it would be fun to post an Urban Legend and it's true nature and see who believes it or not.
Join in with your urban legends...
So to start, is there really such thing as a chemical that is put in pools that will turn color if you pee?
Answer : NO
No matter what your parents might have told you, no magical chemical exists that when added to a swimming pool will reveal the presence of urine in the water by producing a brightly-colored cloud.
“There is no chemical that can function as an indicator for urine in a pool.” Others in the industry concur: this belief is all chimera and no substance.
Those in the pool supply business are routinely confronted with requests for the “urine-indicator dye” (as the mythical substance has come to be known). The belief in such a chemical spans many countries, as does the juvenile certainty particular pools are spiked with it.
Experts on such matters say although a reliable urine-detecting dye could be produced, the trick would be getting it to react only to urine and to not trigger in the presence of similar organic compounds likely present in swimming pools. It’s not a compound anyone appears to be working on either, and with good reason: who’d want it? Kids are kids, and their expected reaction to the news that pissing in the pool would produce bright purple or red trails would be to jump right in with the intent of putting that theory to the test. Especially in a public pool where one’s indiscretions can be blamed on the fellow swimming by, what kid wouldn’t avail himself of the naughty pleasure of invoking billowing clouds of dye?
Join in with your urban legends...
So to start, is there really such thing as a chemical that is put in pools that will turn color if you pee?
Answer : NO
No matter what your parents might have told you, no magical chemical exists that when added to a swimming pool will reveal the presence of urine in the water by producing a brightly-colored cloud.
“There is no chemical that can function as an indicator for urine in a pool.” Others in the industry concur: this belief is all chimera and no substance.
Those in the pool supply business are routinely confronted with requests for the “urine-indicator dye” (as the mythical substance has come to be known). The belief in such a chemical spans many countries, as does the juvenile certainty particular pools are spiked with it.
Experts on such matters say although a reliable urine-detecting dye could be produced, the trick would be getting it to react only to urine and to not trigger in the presence of similar organic compounds likely present in swimming pools. It’s not a compound anyone appears to be working on either, and with good reason: who’d want it? Kids are kids, and their expected reaction to the news that pissing in the pool would produce bright purple or red trails would be to jump right in with the intent of putting that theory to the test. Especially in a public pool where one’s indiscretions can be blamed on the fellow swimming by, what kid wouldn’t avail himself of the naughty pleasure of invoking billowing clouds of dye?
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