From: Anders Sandberg (nv91-asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Wed Sep 18 1996 - 05:07:49 MDT
On Wed, 18 Sep 1996, Sarah Marr wrote:
> At 12:06 17/09/96 -0700, Anders Sandberg didn't write:
>
> >In one of his books (Breakfast of Champions I think, but it's been a
> >long time) a new crystaline form of water is made or discovered, which
> >is solid at room tempurature. It "freezes" any water that comes in
> >contact with it. The world ends.
>
> A long time ago I remember reading a paragraph somewhere which suggested
> that crystalline forms of water, which were stable at room temperature, had
> _actually_ been formed by subjecting water to truly immense pressures. Does
> anybody know any more about this? I've no idea where I read about it, I'm
> afraid; probably some dubious pseudo-scientific rag.
Yes, I have heard of it. I think it was called polymeric water or
something like it. It was discovered in the first half of this century by
soviet scientists who pressured water through blocks of mica or something
similar. The result was a gel-like substance they claimed was a stable
state of water but actually it was most likely some kind of silica gel
that emerged from the mica, a classic example of premature announcement.
I think it was mentioned in Gardener's "Fads and Fallacies in the Name of
Science".
There are of course some solid forms of water that are stable at room
temperature, but they all require very high pressures to form (i.e. no
spreading).
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