Re: Thunderstorms/milk..Grounding

[Guest guest]

Cyndy--

If there is more to this Story, like how someone finally figured this out, I would love to read it.

Had a running stream under my house making it difficult to completely ground the electrical system, even with wires wrapped around water lines, etc. You can buy diodes for this, but we found another way around it finally. So, I don't doubt it for a minute, and I wonder if this is the problem more often than we realize when conflicting stories arise.

I'm also wondering if the original handed-down story had an electrical lightening strike involved that got lost in the re-telling....

If it affects Living Milk this way, good God, what's it doing to People??!!

--Terry

Re: Thunderstorms and milk

> Has anyone have their milk turn bad on them during/after a thunderstorm?> What's the explanation, if so????This just happened repeatedly to one of our members, they grounded their house properly and now no problems with their milk. I can write back with a better explanation next time I talk to her. It is definitely electricity inside the house. "That one member that would occasionally complain about their milk not lasting found out what the problem was. Don't really understand it properly but it was something to do with their house not being properly grounded. They put up lightening rods and grounding them all to one common spot and now their milk lasts longer than it ever did, just like the rest of our members' milk does."~~~Cyndy

[Guest guest]

> If there is more to this Story, like how someone finally figured

this out, I would love to read it.

Here is what she sent me today:**********

The answer to how I knew about the roof is a little complicated, and

I am not sure how to answer it. The reference to thunderstorms

souring raw milk is in a copy of a farmer's guide from 1880's that I

have: I can copy the reference if anyone is interested. If anyone has

specific questions about electromagnetic radiation I can probably

find the answer. **************

Also found info below although a weather company in Colorado called

FMA Research, Inc. says that thunder and lightening have nothing to

do with the souring of milk.

Questions & answers on everyday scientific phenomena from

NewScientist.com:

Sour cream

Question

One evening in the summer of 1994 I retired to bed with a glass of

milk. During the night there was a tremendous thunderstorm with

plenty of lightning and the following morning the remainder of the

milk had curdled into a solid mass. My elderly relatives who

remembered pre-refrigerator days held it as common knowledge never to

leave milk out in a thunderstorm. I had never heard of this. What

process had taken place?

Parry , Colwyn Bay Clywd

Answers

As a child in the 1920s I was told that thundery weather would turn

milk sour. My informants were farmers who were familiar with clean,

unpasteurised, raw milk.

Whatever the type of milk, spoilage would be hastened by increased

atmospheric temperature associated with thunder. Most bacteria found

in milk grow well between 22 and 33 °C.

Ellen Garvie , Dingwall Ross-shire

I read with interest the replies to the query about milk curdling

during thunderstroms. The explanations offered--that the warm, humid

conditions during storms encourage bacterial growth thereby souring

the milk--do not explain the phenomenon that I observed. Intrigued by

the original question, I decided to test it myself and deliberately

left a covered glass of fresh, pasteurised milk taken straight from

the fridge on the back doorstep during a thunderstorm. Within 15

minutes the milk in the glass had separated into a clear whey-like

layer overlaying a layer of curd. Tasting the remixed milk confirmed

that it had not turned sour, only curdled.

The remaining milk in the bottle from which the glass was filled had

been kept in the fridge and remained unaffected. Why was this?

Val Dawson , Amersham Buckinghamshire

Electrostatic fields within a certain range can break up emulsions by

polarising droplets and causing them to coalesce head to tail. During

the build-up to a lightning discharge, the field strength will

presumably pass through this range and may cause exposed milk to

separate into its aqueous and fatty components. Milk in a metal

container would be shielded from the field and remain emulsified.

P , Seascale Cumbria

[Guest guest]

hmph! Interesting.... however, it still does not explain the souring

of the heavy cream that was in the fridge. This is getting

interesting, I'll have to find time to dig ard....

Thanks for posting this!

Janis

> > If there is more to this Story, like how someone finally figured

> this out, I would love to read it.

>

> Here is what she sent me today:**********

> The answer to how I knew about the roof is a little complicated, and

> I am not sure how to answer it. The reference to thunderstorms

> souring raw milk is in a copy of a farmer's guide from 1880's that I

> have: I can copy the reference if anyone is interested. If anyone has

> specific questions about electromagnetic radiation I can probably

> find the answer. **************

>

> Also found info below although a weather company in Colorado called

> FMA Research, Inc. says that thunder and lightening have nothing to

> do with the souring of milk.

>

> Questions & answers on everyday scientific phenomena from

> NewScientist.com:

>

> Sour cream

>

> Question

> One evening in the summer of 1994 I retired to bed with a glass of

> milk. During the night there was a tremendous thunderstorm with

> plenty of lightning and the following morning the remainder of the

> milk had curdled into a solid mass. My elderly relatives who

> remembered pre-refrigerator days held it as common knowledge never to

> leave milk out in a thunderstorm. I had never heard of this. What

> process had taken place?

>

>