At 10:06 13/01/2005 -0800, you wrote: >Fred, > >> > Beta-aether > >> Either that or 3 K radiation. > >The two (CMB and B-A) ARE connected in a surprising way. > >> a velocity of about 325 meters per second at 1.3 >KW/meter^2 solar or CF photon insolation. That translates to >a significant Specific Impulse (isp). > >Yes. Although it is far less (6x less) than the Bridgman >effect with water ice, which does NOT require thermal input. >It would be interesting to compare apples-to-apples however. >I do not have a clue about CO2 under Bridgman type >pressures. > >Water ice does have one big advantage in regard to >exploiting Casimir. When a water molecule freezes rapidly, >it becomes a fully hydrogen-bonded structure with strong and >straight hydrogen bonds (such as hexagonal ice) then it can >only have four nearest neighbors, due to the angles of its >near tetrahedral molecular hydrogen sites. This give an >incredible amount of built-in strain, all "free" due to the >Casimir effect on hydrogen bonds. IOW that is where the OU >part could come in. > >In the liquid phase, molecules approach more closely due to >the partial collapse of the tightly hydrogen bonded network. >Closer neighbors mean higher density. As the temperature of >liquid water increases, the continuing collapse of the >hydrogen bonded network allows unbonded molecules to >approach more closely so increasing the number of nearest >neighbors. > >The maximum density of water is a most curious feature, as >it occurs at 4 degrees C. Regular ice is lower density but >there are many varieties of ice (yes the IS an Ice-9) where >the density is higher than liquid water and these ices would >not float. > >BTW, Ice-9 is 16 percent denser than water. Vonnegut was a >little more thorough in his fantasy world than most of us >thought....right? He at least had some of the physics down. >If you cannot imagine the repercussions of what happens when >ice sinks, then go to the library's Sci-Fi section and look >under "V." > >This behavior is in contrast to normal liquids where the >increasing kinetic energy of molecules and space available >due to expansion, as the temperature is raised, means that >it becomes less likely that molecules will be found closer >to each other and the density always decreases with >increasing temperature. > >Most of this is info is authoritative and derived from >Martin Chaplin's website (the best place on the web to learn >about water and its many quirks): >http://www.sbu.ac.uk/water/index.html > >Anyway, the advantage of superchilled water is that you can >get that high acceleration gradient, about 6 times higher >than CO2 sublimation, courtesy of Casimir... and just by >squirting it into a vacuum without any external heat being >applied. You are not dependent on solar, so you could go >wherever in the universe desired... if you could somehow >avoid the problems of aging... Oh don't we wish for that. > >Jones
Mmm...very interesting. I wish I could have written all that. ;^) Cheers, Grimer
