Will water or lava freeze in space, or would it be a gas?

  • Context: Graduate 
  • Thread starter Thread starter Albertgauss
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Gas Space Water
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion centers on the behavior of water and lava when exposed to the near vacuum of space, exploring whether these substances would freeze, evaporate, or transition to gas. The scope includes theoretical considerations and implications for both water leaking from a spacecraft and lava on celestial bodies with low temperatures and pressures.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant suggests that water leaking from a spacecraft may freeze due to low temperatures in space, but also questions if it would evaporate because of low pressure, proposing that some water might freeze while some escapes as gas.
  • Another participant claims that water will first boil and then freeze, noting that boiling removes energy from the liquid, allowing it to cool rapidly.
  • A different participant mentions that molten lava would outgas volatile components and solidify, with some parts potentially existing as gas while the bulk cools through conduction and radiation.
  • One participant points out that the behavior of these substances may depend on their location in space, referencing comets that outgas as they approach the Sun.
  • Another participant introduces factors such as viscosity and dissolved gases, suggesting that lava's high viscosity would likely keep it together, while water at room temperature would boil vigorously and potentially disperse.
  • A participant shares an observation of liquid water boiling and freezing simultaneously under low pressure, indicating that boiling can cool the remaining water enough to freeze.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the outcomes for water and lava in space, with no consensus reached on whether freezing, boiling, or gas formation would dominate in these scenarios.

Contextual Notes

The discussion highlights various assumptions about pressure, temperature, and the physical properties of water and lava, which may influence their behavior in space. Specific conditions and definitions are not fully resolved.

Albertgauss
Gold Member
Messages
294
Reaction score
37
This not only goes for water, but any hot, melted substance suddenly exposed to the near vacuum of space.

For example, suppose I have a stream of water leaking out of a space ship. Does the water freeze because space is at 50-100 K (in our solar system), or does it evaoprate because the air pressure of space is so low? Or, is it more complicated than that where some of the water will freeze on the outside of the spaceship, and some will escape through the solar system as gas?

This also applies to super-hot lava erupting on moons of Jupiter or Saturn. The lava is very hot ~1000-2000 K. The temperature of such moons is ~50-100 K. So, by this reasoning, the lava would freeze into rock. But, these moons also do not have any atmosphere, thus they have very low pressure. Low pressure makes almost the phase of everything a gas, so by the second line of logic, the lava should outgas into space.

I can't see which is which, so I ask for help here.
 
Astronomy news on Phys.org
Water will first boil, then freeze. Boiling takes away the energy from the liquid, see, so it cools down rapidly.
Somebody posted a really well-made educational video here once, ilustrating just this process:
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=658014

As for the lava, molten rock outgasses the volatile components of the flow, the rest solidifies. There might be some parts of the lava flow that will hapily exist in gaseous form, and these will escape into space cooling the rest a bit, but the bulk of the flow will just lose energy via conduction(contact with the surrounding ground) and radiation.
 
Depends where in space, right?

Think of comets as they come in from the Oort cloud. They're chunks of rock and frozen water. As they float in towards the Sun, the water and other chemicals begin to heat up and outgas, creating a tail.
 
It depends on viscosity, dissolved gasses, and things like that. Lava is very viscous so I'd expect it to usually hold together. "Room temperature" water I would expect to blow itself apart by vigorous boiling.
 
I've seen liquid water boil and freeze at the same time. At low pressure under a bell jar.
As someone said, the room temperature water cools itself by letting part of itself boil away, so that the rest can freeze.
 

Similar threads

Graduate Properties of Matter in Vacuum (Space)
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
3K
Undergrad Composition of Jupiter: Ices, Cores & Outer Gas Layers
  • · Replies 24 ·
Replies
24
Views
4K
Undergrad How can visible gas bubbles remain intact inside frozen water?
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
2K
As much steam as possible from engine exhaust gas + warm water?
  • · Replies 25 ·
Replies
25
Views
4K
What are the different types of volcanoes and how are they formed?
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
3K
Undergrad New Developments In The Search For Planet X
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
3K
MHB Maths in Temperature and ideal gas Thermometer
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
1K
Graduate Water Freezing in Space: Debunking the Myth of Instant Boiling and Freezing
  • · Replies 13 ·
Replies
13
Views
5K
Undergrad Atmospheric escape parametre statistics
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
2K
Is my fictional Solar System stable and realistic?
  • · Replies 21 ·
Replies
21
Views
5K