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orion-list Re: Dr Falk's 10 hours



>Many people on this list have spent much time at Qumran, and some must have 
>hard scientific data on water requirements in these conditions. Can we get 
>a realistic estimate from someone, please?

http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/fluid.balance.html
http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/salt.html
http://www.gssiweb.com/
Here are a few web sites to look at.

  Using the first URL, you can calculate that a 155lb person can lose 3
liters 
of water (4% of body weight) without difficulty.  Hence, you may have used 7 
liters in 10 hours.

  The largest consumption number that I have seen is "4 to 8 oz. every 15
to 20 
minutes during heavy exercise".  Strangely, that range stretches from .75 
liters per hour (your experience, Dr Falk) to 2 liters per hour (Dr Altman^Òs 
conservative number.)  The citation for that figure is a bit tricky.  Go to 
that 3rd URL and become a member.  Once that is done, then click Fluids
2000.  
Once that page comes up, click Fluid Pyramid.

  I  am someone who has gone backpacking in the Grand Canyon in Arizona,
USA.  
Some of it^Òs climatic zones  and geography bear a modest resemblance to the 
Qumram area.  (The annual rainfall is 9.7 inches and I recorded 110 degrees F 
at 10 in the morning on June 1st this year.) Because the ability to packpack 
two days without water opens up enormous stretches of the Canyon, I and
quite a 
few others discuss water consumption quite thoroughly.

  There is a problem with the hard science:  The hard science in that field
of 
study has been blessed and distorted by a flood of money from the owners of 
Gatorade.  They have a novel, very successful, very up front scheme of
funding 
a lot of hard scientists researching this field, but.. with the provision
that 
no competitor of Gatorade is used in the study.  Because of the source of the 
funding, all of the studies seem to relate to athletes trying to push their 
bodies to extremes.  The marketing succeeds because a sports team such the 
Chicago Bulls looks at the hard science and says: Since we only have hard 
science on Gatorade, that is what we will use.

  I think that I am joking here, but a careful study of the electrolyte needs 
of an archeological work crew might get funded by Gatorade.  

  Hard science on the water consumption of hardworking, sensible people who 
adopt intelligent strategies to avoid the heat of the day may not exist.  The 
hard science has focused on short athletic events and produce results that do 
not extrapolate well to periods of time as large as two days.  You will also 
notice that the numbers have enormous variance.

David West
Tulsa Oklahoma


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