Americas Africa Europe Middle East South Asia Asia Pacific Arabic Spanish Russian Chinese Welsh
BBCi CATEGORIES   TV   RADIO   COMMUNICATE   WHERE I LIVE   INDEX    SEARCH 

BBC NEWS
 You are in: Sci/Tech
Front Page 
World 
UK 
UK Politics 
Business 
Sci/Tech 
Health 
Education 
Entertainment 
Talking Point 
In Depth 
AudioVideo 


Commonwealth Games 2002

BBC Sport

BBC Weather

SERVICES 
Daily E-mail
Thursday, 2 August, 2001, 01:45 GMT 02:45 UK
US makes 'weather control powder'
Hurricane damage
Scientists hope to reduce the effects of hurricanes
By BBC Science's Julian Siddle

A company in the United States claims it has invented a powder that can be used to remove clouds from the sky and even stop the development of hurricanes.

They say the new product could help many areas of the world that are subject to extreme weather conditions.

Thunderstorm
The powder absorbs water from storm clouds
The Florida based company, Dyn-o-mat, used a military aircraft to drop four tonnes of its powder on to a developing storm cloud.

The cloud disappeared from radar screens, which were monitoring the experiment.

Officials from the company, which produces materials to absorb pollutants such as oil and acids, say they used a specially developed powder that absorbs large quantities of water.

'Completely safe'

The water is then turned into a gel before falling out of the sky.

The company says the gel is completely safe, bio-degradable, and breaks down in seawater - though they refuse to say exactly what is in it.

Among the applications that it envisages for the powder are clearing away clouds before sports fixtures and constraining the development hurricanes.

The company believes that a tightly controlled jet of the powder aimed at the hurricane would cut it into smaller pieces, making it far less threatening.

The US Government has already expressed interest in the new product, and the company says it could be useful worldwide.

 WATCH/LISTEN
 ON THIS STORY
Dyn-O-Mat's JD Dutton
"This is the absolute breakthrough"
See also:

18 Sep 00 | Sci/Tech
Nature's lethal weapons
Internet links:

US Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory
Dyn-o-mat
New Scientist

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

Links to more Sci/Tech stories are at the foot of the page.


E-mail this story to a friend

Links to more Sci/Tech stories