Ask a Prof

Produced by the FSU Office of Research

Question

We're only into the NAFTA agreement a year now, but I'm hearing some unsettling things about it already. Any indication yet that this is going to turn out to be either a good or bad deal for Florida's economy? -- Martha Kingsley, (BS History, '68), Orlando

Answer

Dr. Ray Canterbury, professor of economics, replies: The collapse of the Mexican peso, not to mention the near-collapse of the Mexican government, has overwhelmed NAFTA. With the price or value of the U.S. dollar in pesos soaring, Florida's goods and services became far more expensive to Mexicans and their goods much cheaper to us. These events, independent from NAFTA, were bad for those Florida firms exporting to Mexico but good for those Floridians vacationing in Acapulco. Floridians might have received some indirect benefits from the bargain prices for Mexican oil, a good omen for Florida tourism (even if that result was offest by Americans taking vacations down Mexico way).

Question

Are the radioactive byproducts of phosphate mining in Florida really any threat at all to public health? I'm hearing conflicting opinions around here. -- Walter E. Menzel Jr., ( B.S. Accounting, `80,) Sarasota

Answer

Dr. William Burnett, professor of oceanography, replies: Yes, it's possible that radioactive by-products of phosphate mining could pose such a threat. Phosphogypsum, a by-product of the manufacture of phosphate fertilizer, does have somewhat elevated levels (compared to natural soils) of Ra-226 and other decay products of naturally occurring uranium. Largely for this reason, the gypsum is not allowed to be used for construction but is stockpiled into what have become huge "gyp" stacks. Accumulating at a rate of about 30 million tons per year, almost one billion tons of this material will be stacked up in Florida by the turn of the century. Is there any way to purify this material and put it to some good use instead of continuing to stack it where it could potentially contaminate our aquifers? Research is currently in progress in our group at FSU to better understand how radioactive elements are incorporated into phosphogypsum in the hope that this information will eventually lead to purification technologies.

Question

If I traveled down a tunnel to the center of the earth, would my weight change, and why? -- Charles Badland, ( MFA, `86), Tallahassee

Answer

Dr. Joseph Cain, FSU research scientist, replies: You'd weigh precisely zero at the exact center, but you'd weigh more than you do now getting there! Gravity increases almost one percent from the surface down to the liquid iron core at about 2,900 km depth ( 2900 km is about 1,800 miles), and then decreases steadily to zero at the core. The main reason it goes up initially is that you are approaching the iron core whose density is nearly 10 times that of water. The gravity for the geological layers above you cancels out to zero. Your gravity depends only on the effect of those layers beneath you.

Question

As a coastal property owner in Florida, what -- if anything -- do I have to worry about scientists' forecasts of rising sea levels? -- Deborah Duvall, ( B.S. Biology, `74), Coral Gables

Answer

Dr. Joseph F. Donoghue, FSU associate professor of geology, replies: Perhaps in your lifetime, you won't see much difference. But sea level is rising and may start rising at a much faster rate because of greenhouse warming. In fact, sea level is rising regardless of the greenhouse effect. Steadily for the last 18,000 years, sea level has risen nearly 100 meters -- more than 300 feet -- or two-tenths of an inch per year. Even today sea-level rise is about six hundredths of an inch per year. Although a few hundreths of an inch of annual sea-level rise doesn't seem like much, that translates to three inches of vertical rise over the next 50 years. On a typical Florida shoreline, the slope is about 1:1,000. So at the present rate of sea level rise, the Florida shoreline will advance inland by 3,000 inches, or about 250 feet roughly midway into the next century.

Got a question on anything under the sun or beyond it? Snail-mail it to Ask-a-Prof, c/o FSU Research in Review Magazine, MC 3067, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306 or e-mail it to frankstp@res.fsu.edu.