Hi .... I don't really know much about chemistry ... but I think North may be right in his original assumption
Quote:
Originally Posted by north now I have asked this question before on other sites , they simply give a chemical bond answer.....
I'm thinking beyond bonds here people. I'm thinking that water is a dense magnetic field
any thoughts |
I don't know if Magnetic is right, but it is the amount of the Electromagnetic force that creates the different structures.
Changing from Ice > Water > Steam does not change the molecular structure. But changes its electrical bonds. These are called Phase Transitions.
If you think of an Atom as having the 'Bohr' structure, that is, electrons orbiting the nucleus it makes it easier. Each electron can only change its orbit if it gives up or receives an exact amount of energy, a quanta.
Molecules consist of atoms that 'share' electron orbits. If you apply energy, in this case heat, to Ice at say -20 deg C than this heat (energy) will be absorbed as conductive heat and the temperature will rise proportionately to -19, -18, -17, -16 all the way up to Zero.
But at Zero degrees a phase transition occurs. The heat you continue to apply is no longer absorbed as conductive (which raises or lowers the temp) but is absorbed as Latent ( which changes the 'shared' electron orbits).
The electrons of the molecules are now zipping around so fast that they can no longer form shared hexagonal structures but form chain like structures. However the energy they now hold is not enough to break the shared electron orbits of the Hydrogen and Oxygen, so the molecular structure remains as H2O.
The same happens at 100 Deg C. but at this energy level they cannot even stay close enough to share chain like structures and the molecules become hi-speed energetic bullets. However they are still molecules of H2O and are chemically identical to Ice molecules.
Of course exactly the same happens in reverse. You can easily check this by freezing a thermometer in a glass of water, gently apply heat so you don't crack the glass, watch as the temp climbs consistently, and then it suddenly stops at zero, even though your candle is still applying energy. Only once all the ice in the glass has melted does it suddenly start to climb again. Where did the energy go. it is absorbed as Latent Energy.
The reason that Hydrogen and Oxygen have vastly different phase transitions compared to Water is that they are sharing electron orbits at the 'element' level, water is sharing at the molecular level. Much different energy levels are involved.
Nearly everything can exist as solid, liquid or gas. Solids behave as liquids over a greater time span and liquids behave as gases. If you place a gold coin on top of a silver one and come back in a few million years the gold coin will be on the bottom.
There is a third phase transition from gas to plasma at very high temperature.
It is now believed that forces also experience phase transitions and hence we have four now because the universe is cooler than it was.
If you look at the drawing below you can see that energy is not absorbed in a linear fashion but plateaus out at each phase transition.
Hope this helps ... but I am no expert ..
cool bananas ... greg
