An abundant cheap dense liquid?

  • Thread starter Thread starter gloo
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Liquid
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the search for dense and abundant liquids, exploring various candidates such as mercury, molten lead, and ferrofluids. Participants inquire about the properties, applications, and feasibility of using these liquids in specific contexts, including layering for increased density effects. The conversation touches on theoretical and practical aspects of liquid density in relation to engineering applications.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Mathematical reasoning

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants propose using mercury for its density but question its abundance.
  • Molten lead is suggested as a candidate, with concerns about temperature and legality of access to materials like uranium.
  • Ferrofluids are discussed, with inquiries about their density limits and cost implications.
  • Participants express uncertainty about the maximum density achievable for ferrofluids, with references to varying densities under different conditions.
  • Some suggest alternatives like barium sulfate and bentonite, questioning their solubility and mixing requirements.
  • There is a request for clarification on the application of dense liquids, particularly regarding the layering concept for increasing upward force.
  • Concerns are raised about the clarity of the original questions and the perceived impatience of some participants in the discussion.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the best candidate for a dense liquid or the feasibility of achieving specific densities. Multiple competing views and uncertainties remain regarding the properties and applications of the liquids discussed.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include unclear definitions of "abundant," unresolved questions about the practical applications of dense liquids, and varying assumptions about the conditions under which certain densities can be achieved.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be of interest to individuals exploring material properties in engineering, those considering applications of dense liquids in various contexts, and participants curious about the theoretical limits of liquid densities.

  • #31
Mercury is rare, expensive, toxic and probably illegal to owe.

Baluncore has a neat idea: some sort of mud. It's not very dense, but it's denser than water. You can go one step further and put iron powder into it. The idea is to mix substances with increasing densities, so they can hold each other. But they will precipitate sooner or later.
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: gloo
Engineering news on Phys.org
  • #32
Gigel said:
Mercury is rare, expensive, toxic and probably illegal to owe.

Baluncore has a neat idea: some sort of mud. It's not very dense, but it's denser than water. You can go one step further and put iron powder into it. The idea is to mix substances with increasing densities, so they can hold each other. But they will precipitate sooner or later.

In the oil drilling business, they inject something called drilling mud down the hole to seal it up while drilling. It needs to be dense, so a suspension of barium sulfate (insoluble in water ) is a component of the mud. I wouldn't be surprised if drilling is where most of our barium resources go.
 
  • #33
About 80% of BaSO4 is used for drilling, according to Wikipedia.
 
  • #34
The density of drilling mud is increased so that rock chips from the mechanical drilling are buoyant in the flowing mud. As mud is pumped down the centre of the drill string, the rock chips float in the circulating mud up the hole outside the drill string. The pressure of the column of drilling mud in the hole opposes the hydrostatic fluid pressure in the rock and so reduces blow-outs. Bigger is not always better. Drillers despair when they get the mud density too high as the overly expensive mud goes down the hole to be lost in the rock formations below.

Engineering involves solving real problems in an economical way. The problem with this thread was that rather than having a specific problem to solve, the OP was considering the wider possible complexities of buoyancy in differential density fluids. Neither toxic mercury nor expensive drilling mud can be engineered to solve an unspecified problem. Indeed, most engineering effort goes into identifying the problem and the specifications required.
 

Similar threads

How could I make it so ferrofluid drops do not coalesce?
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
938
How Can an Aluminum Air Fuel Cell Design Be Improved to Address Common Issues?
  • · Replies 9 ·
Replies
9
Views
3K
Can Objects Float in Ferrofluid Using Electromagnets?
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
4K
Engineering Hydrostatic Pressure of Ball Floating in Liquid
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
2K
High School How can I model a density function of a compressible fluid?
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
Undergrad Mars: estimations about its colonization - liquid water issue
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
3K
Departure enthelpy for mixture EOS = enthelpy of mixing?
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
Two immiscible liquids in a container
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
2K
Undergrad How does evaporation generate cooling? Swamp coolers edition
  • · Replies 32 ·
2
Replies
32
Views
4K
Undergrad Need to find dense liquid at room temperature
  • · Replies 9 ·
Replies
9
Views
2K