Liquid Gases

A liquid gas. Sounds like an oxymoron doesn't it! :~) There are 4 states of matter that we know about. Solid, liquid, gas and plasma ,(which is pretty much, for everyday discussion and to avoid getting into a long, fascinating talk here right now), plasma is a state where the atoms are more spread apart than a gas.


Most of what we think about as solid objects is to a very large degree empty space. I have heard that if you could take an atom and blow it up to the size where the nucleus was the size of a soccer ball, then the first level of electrons circling it would be over 9 miles out! That is a lot of empty space! But with so many trillions of atoms comprising an object and our natural senses so limited, we perceive things as solid objects.

Since we live on a planet with a relatively small range of temperature, humidity, etc., we tend to think of certain elements and compounds in terms of the usual state we find them in. Our temperature range on earth may not seem small to you, but compared to the 27 million degrees above zero at the center of the sun, or the 400 degrees below zero in some parts of space, it is indeed small! :~)

We breathe air, which is made up of about 80% nitrogen and 20% oxygen so we think in terms of those 2 elements being gases. They are both gases at room temperature and pressure, but they both also can be converted to liquids in colder and higher pressure situations.

As a certified scuba diver I can appreciate that gases can be more useful under pressure. If I was floating on top of the ocean and wanted to go down to the bottom and if all I had was a plastic bag to put some more air in, it would only hold a breath or two. By compressing the air under high pressure in a metal tank and taking that with me I can go down for a long time.

According to NASA concerning the space shuttle: During a launch, the ET, (external tank), delivers 535,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and oxygen propellants to the three main engines, which power the Shuttle to orbit.

If the gases weren't compressed down to fit more of them in a given volume of space there is no way the shuttle would make it into orbit. The difference in available energy for space flight between gases at atmospheric temperature and pressure and in their liquid state is enormous!

There are plenty of reasons to convert gases to liquids. One can be for transportation. Natural gas is liquefied to be able to transport a larger volume of energy in the same amount of space, like in trucks, trains and boats.

Gases can also be converted for the new properties they have in their liquid state. Liquid helium is so cold, it is just a few degrees above absolute zero, the theoretical temperature at which all atomic movement stops. If you wanted to get something down to just about as cold as it could get, liquid helium would be the choice!

Research is ongoing using super cold liquid gases to cool metals that are used as super conductors of electricity or magnetism. Some of it has even made it into practical applications. I saw a TV show where they needed to be able to transport an extremely large amount of electricity for municipal use. The infrastructure in place couldn't handle as much as they needed and upgrading the infrastructure was way beyond economic feasibility. So what they did was to run cables that are bathed in liquid nitrogen so the cables would act as super conductors and handle the increased amount of power needed.

Computer manufactures have been working on finding ways to cool down the CPU, the main big chip which is essentially the computer's brain. The CPUs can get extremely hot! They put great big fans on them now, but research is working on ways to use super cold liquid gases to keep them cool and allow increasing the computer's speed.

I have also seen situations where super cold liquid gases were used to transform materials and produce magnetic levitation. This is something that is primarily in the research stage but it could have large implications as we work to improve our transit systems for people and cargo.

Liquid gases can be produced to have more energy in one spot, to super cool other materials and for other reasons as well. I think as time goes by and research continues we are going to see them used for some purposes we never would have thought of. Especially since changing the state of matter can often lead to radically different properties being displayed by it.

You can even arrange to have your body preserved in liquid nitrogen at your death so that hopefully they can bring you back to life in the future when they figure out how to cure what ailed you!

I think as we see the bigger push for a renewable energy economy and planet, and people being willing to think outside of the box, we are going to see liquid gases playing a much bigger part in our every day lives.

Thank you,

Dave Briggs