By Alyssa Edmunds
There have been numerous protests and marches in the last few years; maybe you participated in the March for Science or maybe politics is not your cup of tea. However, fighting for what you believe in is far from a new concept. Perhaps the most famous protest of American history is the Boston Tea Party. If you’re a big fan of tea like I am, maybe you think a giant body of water turned into tea is a gift from a higher power.
Not so fast. According to this short video from The American Chemical Society, the equivalent of 18.5 million tea bags that was poured into the Boston Harbor was hardly enough to make the harbor a giant cup of tea. In fact, the colonists would have needed the equivalent of 2-3 trillion tea bags.
Further complicating things, the Boston Harbor is a body of salt water. It is unclear how salt water affects the amount of tea extracted from the leaves. Also, due to the cold temperature of the water in December, when the Boston Tea Party occurred, the water would have taken longer to become tea.
But if more tea was dumped in and the colonists were able to dilute the salt water enough, the Boston Harbor would have been turned into a refreshing beverage. Although I’m guessing the chances of that happening are about as good as Britain being able to tax the sea of tea!
You can check out all the math and science for yourself. Enjoy!
Alyssa Edmunds is Chemical Processing’s social media intern and a student at The Ohio State University. She is studying Actuarial Science. She enjoys peaceful protests and a good cup of green tea.
