Thanks fieldmarshaldj. As I've aged, I've discovered I have several new states of water, every couple of hours, during the night.
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Posted on 04/28/2016 6:22:09 AM PDT by Hostage
You already know that water can have three states of matter: solid, liquid and gas. But scientists at the Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) have discovered that when it's put under extreme pressure in small spaces, the life-giving liquid can exhibit a strange fourth state known as tunneling.
The water under question was found in super-small six-sided channels in the mineral beryl, which forms the basis for the gems aquamarine and emerald. The channels measure only about five atoms across and function basically as cages that can each trap one water molecule. What the researchers found was that in this incredibly tight space, the water molecule exhibited a characteristic usually only seen at the much smaller quantum level, called tunneling.
Basically, quantum tunneling means that a particle, or in this case a molecule, can overcome a barrier and be on both sides of it at once – or anywhere between. Think of rolling a ball down one side of a hill and up another. The second hill is the barrier and the ball would only have enough energy to climb it to the height from which it was originally dropped. If the second hill was taller, the ball wouldn't be able to roll over it. That's classical physics. Quantum physics and the concept of tunneling means the ball could jump to the other side of the hill with ease or even be found inside the hill – or on both sides of the hill at once.
(Excerpt) Read more at gizmag.com ...
I’m unsure why this wouldn’t be a 5th state - since most substances also have a plasma state at very high temp/pressure.
Celebrate all stages of water! Free the LGSQ water out of the closet (Liquid, Gas, Solid, and Queer)!
Also, water should be free to use whatever drain it wants, based on the state of being it identifies with.
It’s written for a general audience, and yes, the author should have pointed out what you said. But a journal paper would have likely lost most people. As it is, this piece is informative at least.
Yeah, hear you. The distinction is nebulous Lol! Superheated is more a gas than a vapor, but then we would have to talk about those things and ... well, we’re running out of time as it’s almost time to get back to Trump!
That’s ok so is the writer. There already is a 4th state of matter. It’s called plasma.
I don’t think the article explained it very well.
Imagine a six-sided nut (the water molecule) being held tightly inside a six-sided socket spanner (the mineral). The nut fits exactly and is held firmly by the socket. Although the socket is stationary, somehow the nut is spinning.
Maud'Dib?
Well, I don’t see how misinformation helps to be informative... ;-)
It’s not misinformation, it’s just marginalization to a summary, a process that loses some information.
They actually should use ‘transitional state’ to be more precise, but the actual physicists themselves use ‘tunneling state’ as in their journal paper written for the esteemed Physical Review Letters:
“Quantum Tunneling of Water in Beryl: A New State of the Water Molecule”
http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.167802
In the paper they mention quantum motion which parallels an action as you suggest:
-—“At low temperatures, this tunneling water exhibits quantum motion through the separating potential walls, which is forbidden in the classical world,” said Dr. Alexander Kolesnikov of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, lead author on the paper.-—
Not to belabor the distinctions, I think as other physicists have written that the tunneling may be better characterized as a ‘transitional state’.
It is important to note however that the gems mentioned, emerald, sapphire, have color properties that are in effect a state established by the tunneling, like trapping an immortal bee in a bottle. The distinction I think may not be so important as it first appears.
Yes, Schrodinger’s cat demonstrates what is now widely recognized in physics: quantum bilocation. Ironically, Schrodinger was ridiculing quantum bilocation.
There is a 5th state called tonic water which you add to gin.
I mean it puts you IN a 5th state when combined with gin.......
*ping*
Here’s one for you, if you haven’t seen it.
Yes, PRL is certainly an esteemed publication (I wouldn't want to denigrate my own publication now, would I? :-)).
But that "tunneling state" as mentioned is not actually "a state of matter" such as solid, liquid or gas. It's a quantum phenomenon well known in the past for particles like electrons. No one would call that a "new state of electrons". But, I admit I've been out of the field for some time; who knows what the kids these days mean when they say something...:-)
Thanks fieldmarshaldj. As I've aged, I've discovered I have several new states of water, every couple of hours, during the night.
"Di-hydrogen monoxide is dangerous!"
"Almost as bad as hydric acid."
"And its alkaline equivalent, hydrogen hydroxide."
After their stirring success at declaring CO2 a climate-change pollutant, Democrats have now targeted an even worse villain, hydrogen hydroxide.
The EPA has declared "tunneling" a form of pollution, and the pollutant a Level One actor in global climate extremes.
Now executive orders have imposed new cap & trade restrictions on its use by anyone or anything at any time, ever (except for those with official dispensations).
So, effective immediately, any consumption or even touching of this dangerous substance will be fined on a progressive scale, and proceeds sent to the Democrat committee for the election of more Democrats.
You have been warned!
;-)
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