[Music]
foreign
Ty has explored the depths of our oceans
we've reached the vacuum of space we dig
underground mazes and ride trains in
them and wherever we go hey we need to
go so we tend to need toilets so um how
does that work when you're in a
submarine or down in the Subway or
floating above the Earth in the ISS
aren't you glad you asked of course you
are before we um take a seat let's head
underground in New York City there are
472 stations in the New York City subway
system 51 of those have restrooms if one
day all those 5 million commuters needed
to go to the John at the same time then
you can expect a line of almost 50 000
people at each of those facilities as
for each restroom men and women's this
will be a long wait a
finally it's your turn you do your
business and flush the toilet and your
bladder is much gladder what happens
next well yeah you wash your hands but I
mean where does it all go after you
flush the material enters a complex
sewer system complex because usually
underground rivers with rain water flow
here making the soil soft and unstable
now unstable soil isn't something you
want to hear when you're underground
surrounded by concrete metal and
fast-moving trains that's why
complicated drainage systems are
installed in the subway these systems
divert water from the soil pass it
through strong pipes and it accumulates
in special Wells then the water spills
into the city's sewage system now let's
take a deep dive into the ocean leave
your scuba gear we're going even deeper
to a submarine that's about 900 feet
down just imagine going to the 99th
floor of the Empire State Building only
that far down under the water fun let's
explore there are two bathrooms in this
sub one is needed underwater the second
Works only when the submarine flows to
the surface by the way the toilets are
called heads here
so let's head to the first head but be
careful if you don't flush this toilet
correctly say you just flush the stuff
into the sea then it won't be pretty
when you're that far down below the
surface the water pressure is
unfathomable
you hear about it in pounds per square
inch or PSI at 900 feet below imagine
having 400 pounds of force pushing on
every square inch of you from all sides
down here you simply can't flush water
into the ocean the high pressure outside
the vessel would just come spewing in
and that equals danger danger Will
Robinson so when you flush you open a
valve and the stuff in the bowl gets
washed into a holding tank below a lot
like toilets on airplanes but here's the
difference eventually that tank gets
full uh-huh unlike airplanes that have
their holding tanks pump clean when they
land after a few hours of flight Subs
can be submerged for months at a time so
what do they do when they need more room
in the tank well they pump it full of
air pressure and send it out into the
ocean but don't worry they never do that
anywhere near the coast where you're
splashing around in the water on your
Beach vacation plus that deep down the
toilet contents wouldn't even make it to
the surface they get crushed to the
bottom and serve as fish food ew hey
Nemo it's lunch time on that note we'll
let the fish food sink to the bottom
while you and I head back to the surface
we find ourselves on a yacht ooh fancy
if you want to use the head yep same
name here too it's a maritime thing you
might need some help notice anything
strange there's no flush button you have
to use a special pump switch it once and
it brings water into the bowl from the
sea switch it again and it flushes the
waste into you got it a holding tank
then you need to switch yet again to
keep water from entering the tank which
will be emptied at the port and whatever
you do never throw paper or any garbage
into the toilet this will lead to a
severe blockage that you don't want to
deal with okay I'm getting a little
seasick time to head back to land oh
look a Winnebago let's see what's going
on with its toilet everything is much
simpler here these temporary homes on
wheels are equipped with dry closets you
do your job press one button to open the
hole then press another and hold until
the water rinses everything into yep a
holding tank you just can't leave that
stuff wherever you want when your road
trip is over or the tank is too full you
safely dispose of the contents but what
if I'm the happy owner of an RV and I
don't want to go anywhere are near that
stuff it's okay there are special
companies that deal with emptying dry
closets
but we're already at our next stop a
train station let's investigate the loo
here too if it's an older train say 30
years or so you'd have to wait until it
goes a sufficient distance from the city
only after that are the lavatories open
you do your business press the flush
button and everything gets poured right
onto the railway tracks
this is where the phrase you're on the
right track comes from no actually it
isn't fortunately we're already moving
past this as trains become more
modernized with dry closets and holding
tanks these new trains use a vacuum pump
to get the contents into the tank which
of course is emptied at the station not
along the way and that's all the poop on
tracks
we've arrived at the terminal station
but hurry we have a plane to catch I
briefly mentioned airplane toilets when
we were checking out the head on that
submarine but what about that loud sound
you hear when you flush the toilet on a
jet get this airplanes make smart use of
the air pressure difference inside and
outside the cabin planes are pumped full
of air so that you and I can breathe
that high up in the sky where the air is
thin so when you flush the high pressure
in the cabin literally pushes your
residue down into the holding tank which
has much lower pressure that noise you
hear is the air moving hundreds of miles
per hour
we're going higher and higher until we
arrive at the International Space
Station before we investigate their
restroom here's a fun fact the toilet on
this station costs 19 million dollars no
it's not made of pure gold that would
have been much cheaper it's because
their John is equipped with a very
complex waste management system that is
waste gets turned into drinking water
and breathable air here we go inside the
toilet looks like a space Throne when
you sit down you fasten your seatbelt
because otherwise zero gravity would
have you floating above the seat a
vacuum is created between you and the
toilet so that no bits manage to escape
you do your thing and press the flush
button after that anything solid or
liquid is separated the solid stuff
falls into a container it'll be sent to
Earth with the next spacecraft the
liquid goes to its own compartment it
rotates very quickly and this centrifuge
is heated the liquid evaporates under
pressure and high temperature
condensation appears in an external
Chamber from there the condensed water
enters another tank
all other moisture from the ISS like the
astronaut sweat and exhaled air goes
into the same tank from here water
enters a special separator where the
liquid is cleaned of odors and passes
through several levels of filtration
after that the water is heated and
sanitized and voila we have clean water
in fact 85 percent of liquid waste can
be processed into pure water oh and from
the same water you can create oxygen in
a process called electrolysis an
electric current is passed through the
water and its molecules start to break
down remember chemistry class back in
school a water molecule is two parts
hydrogen one part oxygen H2O those
oxygen atoms get collected in cylinders
and astronauts can breathe easy but
where do the remaining hydrogen
molecules go there is such a thing as
this sabotier reaction for this the
hydrogen remaining from the electrolysis
of water is mixed with carbon dioxide
the stuff we produce with each exhale in
the end you get water it's an endless
efficient cycle and now I see why the
toilet costs 19 million bucks finally
this thought why are toilets like really
bad Banks because after you make a
deposit it somehow disappears ah come on
it was funny in third grade
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