Special Sub-Topic: The All-Powerful Cow-pie Click Here To Play: The All-Powerful Cow-pie

What is commonly known as a cow-pie?

Fecal material from the bovine species. That's right, no matter how delicious it sounds, a cow-pie is nothing more than digested waste from a cow.

While walking on a farm one day you step in a giant cow-pie. What is it in the cow-pie that gives it that distinctive odor?

Thiols. Yup, it's the sulfur (thiol) compounds found in fecal material that give it that lovely smell.

Cow-pies make excellent fuel for fires.

True. If you ever find yourself stranded on an island with Bessy, you can rest assured that her feces will keep the fire going indefinitely.

On what famous trail did settlers use cow-pies as fuel for their fires?

The Oregon Trail. Finding fuel for fire on the Oregon Trail could be a problem at times. Often times the settlers would resort to using the dung of buffalo's and cattle to keep the fires going.

Which of the following is the most reasonable use for cow-pies?

Fertilizer. If it wasn't for cow-pies, the agricultural world would be in quite a bind. Manure is still widely used to fertilize soil for farming.

How does manure (cow-pies) help in the agricultural process?

It helps add nutrients (mainly nitrogen) to the soil.. Nitrogen trapped in bacteria from cow dung is necessary to replenish the soil and give proper nutrients to crops.

You can build houses out of cow-pies.

True. Cow-pies can actually be turned into effective mortar for stone or brick houses! It is very common to see these houses in India. Is there anything you can't use cow-pies for?

What element or compound would not normally be found in a cow-pie?

Plutonium. Unless there is a secret government program that turns cows into atomic bombs, plutonium should not be found in a cow-pie.

On the American frontier, both cow-pies and the dung from buffalo's were used as fuel for fires. The dried feces from buffalo are referred to as buffalo _______.

Chips & buffalo chips. Not exactly the kind of chips one would enjoy eating, but the usefulness of a renewable resource like dung was invaluable to the travelers on the Oregon Trail in regions of scarce firewood.

Before Frisbees, cow-pies and buffalo excrement were used instead.

True. On the Oregon Trail, children would find dried cow-pies and buffalo chips and use them as Frisbees!