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To: Sherman Logan
Water vapor doesn’t condense into water, it already IS water. It just goes from the gas phase to the liquid phase.

Yes, correct. As soon as I clicked 'post," I was afraid somebody would call me on that, lol.

My understanding is that, as this material flows off the surface of the star, it's not water at all, but just the raw omponents of water, O2 and hydrogen, plus a lot of other things, of course. It is this material that condenses as it cools and water forms out of the condensate.

I don't know... the article mentions condensing, so I'm just trying to work that into my picture of things (while freely stressing that I'm not a scientist at all... my background is math first, physics second and, lastly -- way, way lastly -- chemistry), so if this isn't correct, please do correct me. I would never question an expert in a field in which I had no expertise whatsoever, but the science haters out there have no such qualms.

17 posted on 06/15/2011 6:36:11 AM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: LibWhacker

I have no idea what’s going on out there, and I suspect the scientists pontificating on the subject don’t either.

It is difficult to envision water, H2O, being present at “thousands of degrees” temperature, except possibly at some tremendously high pressure.

Possibly free oxygen and hydrogen atoms “condense into water” as the temperature and pressure drops on expulsion from the star, but I suspect this is using the term “condensation” loosely.

What you said was entirely understandable, I just run into this confusion with regard to water all the time in my line of work and find it a little annoying. :)


18 posted on 06/15/2011 6:43:51 AM PDT by Sherman Logan
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