• LostXOR@fedia.io
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    110
    ·
    9 hours ago

    For a liquid to be a liquid, rather than a gas, it needs to be held together by intermolecular forces. Which means it will have some amount of surface tension. I therefore dismiss this hypothetical as physically unrealistic! :P

    • Derpenheim@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      6 hours ago

      Unless its a hydrocarbon product, which can (and does) spread over surfaces it can’t mix with/soak into in single molecules thick sheets.

      • LostXOR@fedia.io
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        21
        ·
        8 hours ago

        Supercritical fluids are more like a gas than a liquid. Their lack of surface tension means they’ll diffuse throughout whatever container you put them in, so they can’t really be “poured” like a liquid can. They’re actually a pretty good example of why liquids need surface tension to be liquid.

        • _stranger_@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          16
          ·
          8 hours ago

          that’s a pretty good point, it’s literally trapped between being a liquid and a gas. If this was BattleBots, they’d let it compete once and then ban it.

          • thebestaquaman@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            5 hours ago

            “Trapped between liquid and gas” is kind of the opposite of what a supercritical fluid is. It’s more that gas and liquid states are “trapped” in a region of phase space, while supercritical fluids exist in the place where the demarcation between the two no longer exists (which is usually a far larger region than where it does).

      • zout@fedia.io
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        7 hours ago

        Superfluid. It can be supercritical, but superfluid is the special thing for helium.

    • theUwUhugger@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      8 hours ago

      Aha! But languical constructs allow and do allow hyperboles! So it could be argued that the colleague asked for the minimum allowed by our bindings law!

      I request a motion to dismiss your dismissal :>