Fluid sprinkling – spraying – and diffusing – Processes – Of weather control or modification
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-21
2001-11-13
Anthony, Joseph D. (Department: 1714)
Fluid sprinkling, spraying, and diffusing
Processes
Of weather control or modification
C239S014100, C252S194000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06315213
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to weather modification and in particular to the use of polymers to absorb aqueous solutions capable of modifying a weather situation.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Hurricanes, tropical storms, typhoons, and the like weather patterns can cause severe damage to land, buildings, and living creatures. The resulting damage from even an isolated event can be billions of dollars as evidenced by Hurricane Andrew.
Cloud seeding is a known process for artificially modifying the weather by injecting a composition into a cloud for formation of an ice freezing nuclei. Silver iodide is a well known substance used for cloud seeding. Ice freezing nuclei have the effect of creating rain, reducing hail, and possibly preventing rain by overseeding.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,498 discloses a cloud seeding material useful for seeding supercooled clouds in order to augment rainfall. The material used in seeding is defined as a aliphatic long-chain alcohol.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,600,147 discloses a cloud seeding method of inserting liquid propane from a rocket. The liquid propane is used to generate large numbers of ice crystals in supercooled clouds.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,357,865 discloses yet another method of cloud seeding. This invention includes the use of a pyrotechnic composition such as potassium chlorate or potassium perchlorate which act as nuclei for precipitable water drop formation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,096,005 discloses a pyrotechnic cloud seeding composition comprising silver iodate and a fuel from the consisting of aluminum and magnesium.
Thus, the prior art teachings are directed to methods of creating rain. What is lacking in the art is a method of lessening the wind velocities of a storm.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The instant application discloses a method of modifying weather by seeding storm clouds with a polymer. The storm clouds are seeded by dispersing a superabsorbent polymer into the cloud in sufficient quantities to cause a large absorption of water. The reaction of the water with the polymer creates a gel-like substance that precipitates to the surface. Thus, causing an internal constriction with the cloud to lessen storm velocities.
A superabsorbent polymer is a resin capable of absorbing water up to several thousands times as its own weight. These superabsorbent polymers are prepared from water-soluble polymers, but have cross-linking structures which render the polymers water-insoluble. By taking water-soluble ethylenically unsaturated monomers which readily undergo vinyl polymerizaton, such as acrylamide, with the use of cross linking agents, a polymer can be produced that is of uniform small size, has a high gel capacity, is highly insoluble, but highly water swellable i.e. a superabsorbent polymer. (Gel capacity refers to the property of the water swollen polymer to resist viscosity changes as a result of mechanical working or milling.)
Superabsorbent polymers can be dehydrated to a powder. When the powder is added to an aqueous solution and agitated, the polymer is able to absorb many times its weight of the water molecules and a gel-like substance is formed. Superabsorbent polymers are particularly suited for uses where rapid sorption of aqueous fluid is desired or for uses where the swelling properties in water are employed.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the instant invention to present a method for artificially modifying weather wherein a polymer is used to cause wind dissipation by heaving weighting condensation with the clouds.
It is another objective of the instant invention to present a method for seeding a rain cloud with a cross-linked polymer such that the wind of the storm provides the agitation for the reaction of the polymer with the water.
It is an additional objective of the instant invention to present a method for modifying storms such that the solid end product is biodegradable and nonhazardous.
Other objectives and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description wherein are set forth, by way of example, certain embodiments of this invention.
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patent: 5174498 (1992-12-01), Popovitz-Biro
patent: 5357865 (1994-10-01), Mather
patent: 5441200 (1995-08-01), Rovella, II
Anthony Joseph D.
McHale & Slavin P.A.
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