Liquid Oxygen! Theories !

[Thoran]

The Lord of Krust has it righly. [img]smile.gif[/img] Liquids in zero G form spheres (perfect spheres, something which is of MUCH interest to bearing manufacturers [img]smile.gif[/img] )

In addition, LOX would quickly turn to gaseous O^2 in outer space (vacuum)

LOX is a fun substance though. If you have not seen it yet... this is one of the funniest video's on the net imo [img]smile.gif[/img] Lighting a charcoal grill with 10 gallons of LOX.
http://ghg.ecn.purdue.edu/~ghg/grill1.mpeg

Even when the temps get low, you could never keep a "liquid in any kind of complex shape other than a sphere in zero G. Brownian motion would also come into play if you made the shape small enough.

Liquid is a "state" of matter in which the substance takes the shape of the container or will form a sphere if left alone in zero G....what you propose is like saying lets make a castle out of liquid water...you can try but you wont do it without containing the liquid in something.

[Night Stalker]

I don't think magnetic fields would even work, cuz oxygen in it's natural molecular state (O2) is electro-statically neutral. I can't picture the induced E field from the applied B field being strong enough/lasting long enough to overcome the strong and weak forces. Or the power requirements to produce such a field would be prohibitive.

@Epona - LOL! Just like quantum particles themselves! Once you observe them in a particular state - poof! They're gone!

[Thoran]

LOX is slightly magnetic... so it can be influenced by magnetic fields. IF those fields were strong enough and under tight control you could deform a zero G LOX bubble into other shapes... but it'd be MIGHTY difficult. I think it might be possible to create a "LOX Cylinder" under tight zero G lab conditions, You'd also need a virtually infinite budget to get heavy and expensive equipment into space... and powered. I sincerely doubt however that such a construct would be usefull for much of anything.

[whacky]

Gosh this topic did get lost somewhere, and i found it. Hello everyone, now i did think over that "spark" part and im not quite sure about an "exploding" liquid oxygen as oxygen supports combustion but on its own it is a non-flamable substance [img]smile.gif[/img]
Hey Willow yeah didnt see you in a long time, was busy and *ahm* stuff [img]tongue.gif[/img] But the point is i was able to prove to my teacher that it could be done and she agreed that it was theoretically possible and the only practical hurdle being ofcourse it being very expensive, but that doesnt matter, i was able to prove it in theory [img]tongue.gif[/img] Whee [img]smile.gif[/img] She was impressed, an unlikely reaction for a teacher who has just been proven wrong [img]smile.gif[/img] It was proves by the help of the molecular orbital theory(havent studied it completely) oxygen's paramagnetic behaviour and its very low kinetic energy at extremely low temperatures, and a bit of things i had known about superconductors [img]tongue.gif[/img] Funny though ...... makes me wonder are there still teachers who like rebellious students [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[whacky]

Originally posted by Thoran: I sincerely doubt however that such a construct would be usefull for much of anything.

Agreed to some extent now that i thought of how to make it, i can think on its uses, if any [img]smile.gif[/img] But the point was that i was able to prove my argument to a teacher who was too "realistic" perhaps [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Morgeruat]

that's one of the wonderful things about science, is that people tend to get less frustrated when they are proven wrong than with other things.

[Rikard_OHF]

Originally posted by MagiK: Even when the temps get low, you could never keep a "liquid in any kind of complex shape other than a sphere in zero G. Brownian motion would also come into play if you made the shape small enough. Liquid is a "state" of matter in which the substance takes the shape of the container or will form a sphere if left alone in zero G....what you propose is like saying lets make a castle out of liquid water...you can try but you wont do it without containing the liquid in something.

magik is right over here ^
you cant shape liquids even in zero G since they will still have freedom of movement and every substance seeks to create the greatest possible chaos, which means it cannot hold shape

You're second idea, bringing down the temperature down to 0 degrees K is cheating
since Oxygen at 56 degrees K is solid

havent put to much thought in ur third idea yet...

[ 01-10-2003, 11:44 AM: Message edited by: Rikard_OHF ]

[Rikard_OHF]

Originally posted by Morgeruat: that's one of the wonderful things about science, is that people tend to get less frustrated when they are proven wrong than with other things.

in science there's right and wrong, possible and impossible
in politics or ethics there's no right or wrong, only benificial and not-benificial, moral or immoral
and thats subjective

[Gammit]

1.) No. Even if you did get LOX down to this temparature, and COULD start to morph it into a cylindar using magnetics, due to the nature of magnetic fields acting upon each other in an environment of liquid, you could POSSIBLY get the sphere to elongate into a 3D oval, but you couldn't get a perfectly flat ends on either sides.

2.) Oxygen loves to steal electrons (even when in liquid phase). Therefore, putting any electricity through the LOX would lower the amount of current going through it (making a bad conductor) and at least one of several things could happen:
a.) the oxygen molecules contain so many electrons in their shells that they
would push each other away, and thus ruin your shape
b.) the presence of all of the electric current would create a perpendicular
magnetic field, thus countering and/or disrupting the magnetic field that
is keeping your LOX cylindar in shape
c.) the presence of the electric current would excite the oxygen atoms to the
point where they begin to vibrate at a point that would cause the
resulting heat to break apart the lattice

The next question for everyone is, which one of these three scenarios do you think would happen first? My guess is "b"