Is Hydrogen Combustion a Solid or Liquid?

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The discussion centers on the classification of materials, particularly whether items like shirts and smoke should be considered solids, liquids, or gases. Participants argue that a shirt is a solid because its molecules are locked in place and it retains a definite shape, despite being flexible. The ability of a material to conform to a container is deemed an inadequate criterion for classification. Smoke is debated as well, with some asserting it is a solid due to its composition of tiny carbon particles, while others classify it as a colloid, a mixture of solid particles suspended in gas. The conversation highlights the complexity of defining states of matter based on molecular interactions rather than mere shape conformity.
wasteofo2
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Well? Is something like a shirt considered a solid, even though it can easily take the shape of it's container?
 
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My instincts say 'solid.' Thin gold leaf is likewise very flexible, but also solid in my book.
 
Think of it this way, if you try to cram a shirt, or any material, in a container there will still be air pockets, thus not complete conformity. Also, the molecules of cloth are locked and cannot freely move about and slide past each other. Vote: Solid
 
Solid!

A liquid is free flowing.

Here's a brain buster:

Smoke, a solid, or liquid, or gas?

OUUU. This one is rather interesting!
 
Well I vote a complex malleable porous solid.
 
Cloth is most definitely solid.

Smoke is primarily composed of micron sized carbon particles - these are solid.
 
Smoke is solid. It is tiny solid particles suspended in air.

I suppose there could be liquid smoke - a by-product of combustion that takes the form of tiny liquid droplets suspended in air, but I am not familiar with anything that would produce it.

Gasses could never be considered smoke, since all gasses are infinitely miscible.

Njorl
 
More precisely smoke is a colloid: mixture of solid and gas or liquid and gas, basically a mixture of components in different phases.

Example of liquid smoke: steam coming out of the tea cooker :-p basically a mist (mist is a colloid).
 
Addressing the original question, the ability to take the shape of the container is a poor way to characterize the state of matter. The distinction is made on the basis of inter-atomic/inter-molecular interactions. The strength of these interactions is manifest in macroscopic properties such as viscosity.
 
  • #10
wasteofo2 said:
Well? Is something like a shirt considered a solid, even though it can easily take the shape of it's container?
What happens if the container is bigger than the shirt.. it won't take take the shape of the container..
 
  • #11
Njorl said:
I suppose there could be liquid smoke - a by-product of combustion that takes the form of tiny liquid droplets suspended in air, but I am not familiar with anything that would produce it.
Hydrogen in oxygen?
 
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