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Science

Camden Blobs: Mystery Solved 36

Posted by michael from the stay-away-from-the-black-oil dept.
jeffy124 writes "Recently there was a discussion about blobs in the sidewalks of Camden, NJ. The mystery has been solved. It's paraffin wax, which is used in industrial processes and in candles, and poses no health risks whatsoever. Some residents suspect a coverup, but then again, this is Camden were talking about."
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Camden Blobs: Mystery Solved More

Camden Blobs: Mystery Solved

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  • So why was everyone so f'n baffled by simple candle wax? Is parafin wax somehow beyond laboratory chemical analysis?
    • I am not a chemist, but it probably isn't very hard. At least to test for parafin wax. But why would they be checking for parafin wax? The substance could have been any number of things, so they probably weren't testing specifically for parafin wax. Instead, they would test for various properties, which takes a while. Then they probably found that it was parafin wax because, if it looks like, has the same density, has the same chemicals, electrical properties, thermal properties, ..., as parafin wax, it probably is parafin wax.

      Plus, they probably had to send it to a lab, which takes time.
  • why it was falling out of the sky? Seems rather bizzare to me...
    • i live in the camden/philly area .... on the news last night they said it might be from candlelight vigils. Why residents didnt make a connection between vigils and the spots is beyond me, but like I said above, this is Camden were talking about.
      • with black candles?
        • I suspect that the wax absorbed dirt over time to become its current black color.
          • The original article stated that it started out 6 inches wide and shrank to the size of a half-dollar... didn't mention changing color either. I don't think it was from candles, somehow.
        • i know. it seems odd. usually they use white candles. one of the sites where the spots showed up was outside a church. it might be something like the candle drips, and maybe a few days later turns black from sunlight, but then again, IANAC (I am not a chemist).

          something the cnn article mentioned was use in industrial processes. there are a fair number of factories in camden, you drive past them on I-676 between the Whitman and Franklin Bridges. That's also the general area where these spots showed up.

          But something brought up in the first article -- why only recently? Those factories have been there for as long as I can remember, and planes have been landing at PHI airport (another suspicion was jet exhaust) from over South Jersey for a long time as well. For some reason, the candle theory just seems to fit.
        • So the chewing gum stains on the streets only come from black chewing gum?
    • When I was a kid (about 1960) candy stores sold waxy figurines filled with juice. You would bite off the head and drink the juice. The sidewalks had black blobs and there wasn't any mystery.

  • He's at is again.. (Score:1, Flamebait)

    by zulux ( 112259 )
    Icarus [mythweb.com] has been flying around NJ again? I though the aliens told him to stay around Utah, or they'd 'probe' him again. Mormons don't seem to mind the wax and fethers - probably use them in their fertility rites.

  • Mystery Solved (Score:3, Funny)

    by one9nine ( 526521 ) on Saturday August 03, 2002 @04:20PM (#4005728) Journal

    They're made of PEOPLE!!! Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!

  • "poses no health risks whatsoever..."

    It poses health risks if it is in the air. How did it get there?

  • Duh (Score:4, Interesting)

    by andy@petdance.com ( 114827 ) <andy@petdance.com> on Saturday August 03, 2002 @04:34PM (#4005792) Homepage
    I'm just amazed at how cynical people want to be, and how they find problems that just don't exist.
    Sanders said she thinks she still doesn't know the truth. "I believe they're covering it up. I really do," she said.
    "They"? Which "they"? There's a vast conspiracy hiding the truth of sidewalk wax? Does Sanders have nothing else in her life to provide interest? Did the subscription to the Star run out? Maybe turning off the TV and taking a trip to the library to find a good book would help.

    She doesn't believe the health department, so what will she believe? Is there any source that she'd give enough credence to? Is she going to be monitoring SidewalkBlobTruth.com for the REAL UNCENSORED STORY?

    We're so jaded as a society that we have to come up with exciting fables to explain the most mundane of phenomenon.

    • Generally I tend to respect cynicism, but this is just downright stupid.

      No wonder our nation is so fucked up, if retards like this get news coverage. Can't wait til next week, when they'll have a "NASA Shuttle launches causing tornadoes in the midwest" story.
  • Disney is coming out with a new movie called "Spots", which is about aliens who create mystious blobs on city sidewalks the world over.

    As part of the marketing campaign, Disney employees were going to paint spots on sidewalks in many major cities; to promote the movie via word-of-mouth.

    But since this is a low budget movie, they only made it to Camden...

  • "I believe they're covering it up. I really do"

    Well, get some paraffin, melt it onto your sidewalk, and let it age a few days. If someone else can't determine which blobs are which, it is probably paraffin....

  • Parrafin WAx (Score:2, Informative)

    by xxcrackheadxx ( 598230 )
    I was wondering, anyone given the thought of skate boarders that use wax on curbs, leaving chunks around that melt? They use them to grease up curbs so th eboards slide on the edges of them. (this might be where the wax came from, kids on skatboards? just wondering)

    Any supermarket or shopping center, sidewalk neighbor hood has theses types of things all the time. And they all different collors, but its just simple candle wax or even zogs sex wav(like the surfers used to use)
  • This sounds like a plot for the X-Files sequel!
  • Well, it's good that it isn't something worse. But droplets of dirty paraffin floating through the air might very well still constitute a health risk.
  • Having grown up in Camden, I thought the idea of covering the city in black blobs was a distinct improvement.

    Now if this were New York City, the goverment would have immediately cut off funding [fair.org] to the city's museums. But this being Camden, it would require finding government officials who weren't currently in jail.

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