What is Liquid: Definition and 1000 Discussions

A liquid is a nearly incompressible fluid that conforms to the shape of its container but retains a (nearly) constant volume independent of pressure. As such, it is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, gas, and plasma), and is the only state with a definite volume but no fixed shape. A liquid is made up of tiny vibrating particles of matter, such as atoms, held together by intermolecular bonds. Like a gas, a liquid is able to flow and take the shape of a container. Most liquids resist compression, although others can be compressed. Unlike a gas, a liquid does not disperse to fill every space of a container, and maintains a fairly constant density. A distinctive property of the liquid state is surface tension, leading to wetting phenomena. Water is, by far, the most common liquid on Earth.
The density of a liquid is usually close to that of a solid, and much higher than in a gas. Therefore, liquid and solid are both termed condensed matter. On the other hand, as liquids and gases share the ability to flow, they are both called fluids. Although liquid water is abundant on Earth, this state of matter is actually the least common in the known universe, because liquids require a relatively narrow temperature/pressure range to exist. Most known matter in the universe is in gaseous form (with traces of detectable solid matter) as interstellar clouds or in plasma from within stars.

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  1. F

    I Compressibility of liquid vs solid actual numbers

    I was trying to find the compressibility of water and compressibility of air to compare. For compressibility of water I found 46.4e-6 For compressibility of a gas... I am having a tough time finding anything. compressibility factor I can find, which is 1 for Hydrogen... but how does that relate...
  2. T

    Why is the pressure different at points X and Y?

    Homework Statement a)Consider the vessel in the figure shown. It contains a liquid of density p. Calculate the pressure, and give the direction of the force on the container due to the liquid, acting at each of the following points. b) Consider the second figure shown. Why is the pressure the...
  3. C

    Which liquid would be the best to swim up in?

    A friend and I were debating this. Would you be better trying to swim to the surface of 20 feet of alcohol or 20 feet of honey. We can figure out that swimming out of alcohol is rather hopeless due to density but for honey we have no way to consider the viscosity of the liquid. Any thoughts?
  4. R

    I Quick brainteaser - Unknown objects and liquid volume/height

    Hi, here's a quick brain teaser, if we have 3 objects in sealed boxes, we know what the objects could be: a solid metal cylinder, a metal sphere, mixed shape beads, a beaker with a metal object in it, a pyramid. We can pour water into the boxes and measure the relative liquid height between...
  5. R

    Why does external pressure on a liquid increase vapor pressure

    I was reading an online chemistry textbook that said "when a liquid is subjected to hydrostatic pressure (for example, by an inert, non-dissolving gas that occupies the vapor space above the liquid surface), the vapor pressure of the liquid is slightly raised." (link...
  6. H

    If KE is related to pressure on the wall for flowing liquid?

    If there is no velocity and the fluid is moving still, then there is no kinetic energy, would there be no pressure exerted on the walls? Or perhaps there is a basal level of kinetic energy of the molecules as they are vibrating?Lastly, how can there still be flow if the pressure gradient is...
  7. R

    Anyone work with liquid flow, tubing size flow dependence

    I want to use a pump to have solution moving through a reaction vessel at a set flow rate. But the problem is the outlets FROM the pump are very small 1/6" (0.4cm) inner diameter, and the vessel INLET is GL14 thread size (1cm inner diameter). Schematic Problem Pump...
  8. C

    Container of Liquid Accelerated Upward

    Homework Statement A block floats partially submerged in a container of liquid. When the entire container is accelerated upward, which of the following happens? Assume that both the liquid and the block are incompressible. A) The block descends down lower into the liquid. B) The block does...
  9. B

    How volatile impurity affects boiling point of a liquid?

    I know that non volatile impurities increases the boiling point of a liquid. Does volatile impurity decreases the boiling point? How?
  10. Muhammad asad

    B Upthrust in Liquid: Can Objects Keep Sinking?

    I have a question about upthrust. I have studied that if an object is placed in a fluid and if the upthrust is not equal to the weight of the object even after the object is fully immersed in the fluid, it sinks. My question is that is it possible for an object immersed in water to keep sinking...
  11. donaldparida

    Difference between liquid HCl and a solution of HCl

    I know that HCl is a compound whose 1 molecule is composed of 1 hydrogen and 1 chlorine atom bonded co-valently to each other, the bond being polar co-valent. It exists in gaseous state at room temperature. When HCl gas is dissolved in water, it dissociates to furnish H+ ions and thus HCl...
  12. V

    MHB Liquid Blending Proportions - Problem Setup

    Hello MHB Forum, Glad I found this forum, have spent quite some time getting reacquainted with past math concepts. I recently came across a simple algebraic problem in my home wine making, but would like some assistance creating the problem setup for this particular problem. I want to add...
  13. King_Silver

    Temp. rise that will cause liquid to fill vessel completely

    I've a problem with a question regarding a closed spherical storage tank of 30m^3. Its filled to the 99% mark with Nitric acid and the tank is made of stainless steel. I'm trying to determine the temperature rise that will cause the liquid to completely fill the vessel. I know that as the...
  14. M

    Combustion EQ of liquid Hydrogen and liquid Oxygen

    Im working on a problem regarding a SSME and need to figure out the balanced eq for LH2 and LOx. I thought it was simply.. H2 +0.5O2 > H2O however my professor has confirmed that it is not the case in this situation. I am stumped as to what it could possibly be, maybe excess H2? And am not...
  15. D

    Why Does My Car's Fuel Gauge Show False Readings on Hills?

    hello i am new here. I am facing a problem in fuel gauge that when i drive for a long time on hills it start to show false value. I decided to solve this problem i have a gyro and known resistance from fuel tank of my car and now i want to have true value all the time please help me with it or...
  16. S

    B Energy States: Solid, Liquid, Gas & More?

    Does energy have different states analogous to the solid, liquid, gas, and plasma states of matter? Would they be the same as "forms of energy" described here? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forms_of_energy
  17. V

    Liquid in which vessel boils first?

    Hello , Above question came in a national level grade 10 exam recently .If suppose ΔQ amount of heat is transferred to B in time Δt , then how are we suppose to relate that to heat transferred to A . Should the rate of heat transferred to B be equal to that transferred to A ? I am attaching...
  18. Ravi Singh choudhary

    What will be the equilibrium state in the liquid N2 chamber?

    Suppose there is a test chamber containing liquid nitrogen. The container is insulated and only a small opening is there so that chamber is exposed to atmospheric condition. As the saturation temperature of liquid nitrogen is -196 degree Celsius at 1 atm pressure. chamber will remain at -196...
  19. T

    Electrodes liquid contact electromagnetic flow meter?

    Hello, I'm interested in building a small non-invasive battery powered device that wraps around a pressured 1/2" pipe for measuring potable water. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_flow_meter and watching youtube videos, it seems they all use electrodes which contact the liquid...
  20. N

    Normally, water is a liquid but hydrogen sulphide a gas. Why?

    The accepted explanation for the existence of water as a liquid involves hydrogen bonding. Why is this phenomenon absent in the case of hydrogen sulphide?
  21. I

    Concentrating diesel fuel and or wood into liquid fuel?

    I was looking at btu numbers for common fuels and noticed 1 barrel of crude oil (42 gallons) contains 5,800,000 btu's with diesel fuel containing 139,000 btu's per gallon would it be possible to concentrate 42 gallons of diesel fuel to get more btu's per gallon? Also the wood into liquid fuel...
  22. OrangeYogi

    Heat convection in liquid nitrogen

    Hello, I am trying to achieve a range of temperature (below 0 degC) by heating up liquid nitrogen (77K) with an electric heater (100W) inserted into a copper block. How do I calculate the time taken (t) for the nitrogen vapour to reach temperature T (say 100K). The liquid nitrogen is poured into...
  23. A

    Heat energy and liquid nitrogen boil-off rate

    Homework Statement Kindly refer to part (c). The woking should be power/0.35 (what I think according to the graph). But the answer is power (that is the answer of part b) divided by 0.02 Homework Equations I have used the ratio method simply The Attempt at a Solution According to part (b)...
  24. P

    Can the pressure of liquid air/gas can be increased?

    I want to know whether like liquid water or other liquids available at normal temperature and pressure, can the pressure of liquid air/gas be increased mechanically? If yes, then what kind of machinery can do the job? I am asking the question here not on the theoretical part, but on the...
  25. G

    An abundant cheap dense liquid?

    I was looking at the density of liquids and wanted to find a really dense but abundant liquid. I know that Mercury is quite dense, but is fairly abundant? I was also thinking about ferrofluids : 1. How dense is it? 2. Can it be made in increasing densities and up to what density possibly?
  26. F

    Placing a highly viscous liquid drop on a solid surface

    Hi I'd like to ask how you would put a droplet at high viscosity (say 2.5 million times more viscous than water) on a solid surface? The droplet would have to be small (volume less than 10uL, r<1.34mm).. Thanks!
  27. Brage Eidsvik

    Can Liquid Metals Defy Gravity and Form Perfect Spheres While Falling?

    Will liquid metals create droplets when falling or will they create different shapes?
  28. R

    B What is the concept of Physics of Cymatics (of a liquid)

    Hi, Could someone please help me about what is the physics concept behind Cymatics. Is there a formula which establishes the patterns form on a liquid when the frequency or amplitude are changed? Thanks.
  29. G

    Pressure wave through liquid in pipe

    Hello, I'm a bit rusty with my fluid mechanics and can't seem to find the answer anywhere. Basically I have a pressure wave traveling in a liquid at the speed of sound through a pipe of the shape shown in the attachment (basically a semicircle of constant cross sectional area and then a cone of...
  30. E

    Sound waves in a 'compressed' liquid

    Hi, I have a general question I was thinking about... So, in a liquid the particles are already very close together and as a result they are, in effect, not compressible. That being said, if we take water, for example, it is possible to compress is slightly. It requires, however, a great deal...
  31. T

    Hollow sphere half submerged in a liquid, find density

    Homework Statement A hollow sphere of inner radius 9.0 cm and outer radius 10.0 cm floats half submerged in a liquid of specific gravity 0.80. (a) Calculate the density of the material of which the sphere is made. (b) What would be the density of a liquid in which the hollow sphere would just...
  32. C

    Where can you buy a cheap liquid nitrogen dewar?

    I want to find a Dewar or vacuum flask for liquid nitrogen under $50. Does anyone have any recommendations where to buy one?
  33. Eureka99

    The Pressure of a liquid in equilibrium?

    The pressure of a liquid in equilibrium, is equal to the pressure of it's vapour, or to the sum of vapour pressure plus atmospheric pressure? My doubt starts from this problem: At 293 K and 1 atm, the vapour pressure of water is 565.8 Pa. Calculate the vapour pressure of water, when the total...
  34. S

    Thermal expansion of liquid in a tube

    Homework Statement A cylindrical glass tube (linear thermal expansion coefficient ##\alpha##) contains liquid (volume thermal expansion coefficient ##\beta##). The height of the tube is ##h_{t,0}## and the height of the liquid inside of it is ##h_{l,0}##. If the temperature changes of an amount...
  35. S

    Floating block with objects that are thrown in a liquid

    Homework Statement I'm confused about the following kind of situation. Consider a block of density ##\rho_b##, mass ##M_b## and section ##S_b## that floats on a liquid of density ##\rho_l##, in a tank of section ##\mathcal{S}##. On the block there are some objects (all equal), of density...
  36. P

    How to measure the temperature of liquid in sealed container

    I am not a scientist or particularly good with math or formulas. I have been curious about this for a while, and would appreciate anyone clarifying/correcting me. I have a stainless steel container that can be heated up to 75 degrees celcius/165 degrees Fahrenheit in a bain marie. It can hold...
  37. A

    Is concentrated HCl (12M) a liquid and a gas?

    I just remembered that in my lab from a few months ago, the 12M HCl we used was "evaporating" or producing gas, similar to dry ice in water but no where near as much vapor. I'm just curious, is concentrated HCl usually like that or was the acid contaminated?
  38. Ravi Singh choudhary

    Velocity of liquid from bottom pinhole of closed container

    What I know: Below link is about Torricelli's law. Velocity of liquid coming out of bottom of the tank i.e comes after using Bernoulli's equation square root of (2*g*h*) where "h" is height of fluid in the container and "g" is acceleration due to gravity...
  39. C

    A Free energy density in liquid crystals

    Hi, For someone who's familiar with LC's: How to derive the expression for free energy density of an hybrid aligned LC cell? what should be the vector for the director? I already familiar with the cases of splay and bend cell but couldn't understand how to derive it to the case where the cell is...
  40. A

    I Calculate Liquid Flow Rate in Isolated Pipes

    Hello, my first post here. I encounter a situation frequently at work that I'd like help with so here it is... When I isolate a particular section of pipe (by closing valves), I then bleed off the pressure in the isolated section (volume of isolated pipe varies from 3 cubic meters up to about...
  41. salaheddine

    How can i calculate the time delay in arduino?

    hi every one , I'm a student in university , i have a projet it's about calculate speed of waves in liquid by to piezo electrique , one workd like emmeter and the other receppter , the distance betwin the two piezo is fixe , the probleme is i nedd to calculat the time betwin the moment who i...
  42. jmalitz

    Liquid Fueled Engine: A New Perspective

    I know that this has been talked about already, but from the responses, I feel the topic was not addressed to the fullest, but as we know a Jet engine is subject to the amount of O2, so i was looking at a earlier post about this topic. within the replies to that topic the rocket engine was...
  43. N

    Calculating the boil-off rate of liquid helium

    Homework Statement An aluminum rod 0.500 m in length and with a cross-sectional area of 2.60 cm2 is inserted into a thermally insulated vessel containing liquid helium at 4.20 K. The rod is initially at340 K. (Aluminum has thermal conductivity of 3,100 W/m · K at 4.20 K; ignore its temperature...
  44. Arsen

    Fluid Dynamic. Force on particles in carrying fluid (liquid)

    Good day to all! I have a question : We have a flowing fluid ( liquid ) with known pressure, flow in the pipe ( pump is pumping it). There are some spherical microparticles in the liquid, let's say 10-15 microns. I want to create force to stop them moving! Will the pressure force be in the form...
  45. D

    Maintaining -320°F Liquid Nitrogen for Injection Molding

    I have a plastic injection mold, the part I am running has hot spots in the part when it is being shot in the mold. Would like to try to incorporate a closed loop plumbing system to carry liquid nitrogen past the back side of the cavity in hopes to pull the trapped heat from the hot spot area...
  46. V

    Shell and Liquid Forces: Exploring Equilibrium in a Hemispherical Container

    Homework Statement Homework EquationsThe Attempt at a Solution Considering the upper hemispherical liquid part ,the forces acting on it are , force due to the shell and that due to the bottom liquid . Doing a force balance , force due to upper hemispherical shell = ##\pi R^3ρg -...
  47. B

    Could a planet have liquid water without an atmosphere?

    I once knew both how atmospheres formed on planets and how oceans of liquid water formed on planets, but I have forgotten that information. I know that both atmospheres and oceans of liquid water formed due to chemical reactions, but I used to know more of the details of what type of matters...
  48. P

    Light Collection Efficiency for Liquid Scintillation Detecto

    How do I calculate the light yield and light collection efficiency of a liquid scintillation detector? Couls someone give me a formula for that? What data do I need to calculate it? THanks a bunch!
  49. P

    Liquid Scintillation Counter w/ fast neutron detectin isotop

    I'm trying to make a LSC with U-238 (non-aqueous form) dipped in the scintillating cocktail to detect fast neutrons (no thermals or epithermals, only fast) from a Cf-252 source. How do I calculate the wavelength emerging from the cocktail (assuming U-238 does not react with the cocktail)? Also...
  50. P

    A Liquid Scintillation Counter using U-238 to detect neutrons

    I'm trying to make a LSC with U-238 (non-aqueous form) dipped in the scintillating cocktail to detect fast neutrons (no thermals or epithermals, only fast) from a Cf-252 source. How do I calculate the wavelength emerging from the cocktail (assuming U-238 does not react with the cocktail)? Also...
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