X-Message-Number: 2123
Date: Sun, 18 Apr 93 16:24:10 CDT
From: Brian Wowk <>
Subject: CRYONICS Submerged Ethanol

Steve Harris:
 
> Actually, I did suggest n-propanol (1-propanol) as a pos-
> siblity.
 
        Indeed you did.  My apologies.
 
> However, fuzzy as their melting behavior will be, surely
> mixtures of ethanol/water can only be better than water alone.
 
        Not necessarily.  I couldn't find the heat capacity of ethanol 
ice, but the heat capacity of ethanol liquid at -100'C is similar to 
water ice at that temperature.  Since heat capacities typically drop 
after freezing, I would expect the heat capacity of ethanol ice to be 
less than water ice.  It is therefore likely that the heat capacity of 
ethanol/water ice is also less than that of water ice alone.  If so, 
and if the melting of ethanol/water ice is really fuzzy, it is quite 
possible that less energy would be required to warm ethanol/water from 
-130'C to -110'C than water ice alone.  (I am using -110'C as a 
benchmark because Mike Darwin tells me that vitrified patients risk 
devitrification above this temperature.)     
 
> There must be some minimum mix of ethanol with water that isn't
> flammable at all.  Distilled liquors, which are typically 40-50%
> ethanol, will not burn.
 
        This is a very useful observation.  Perhaps we can use it 
without actually mixing the ethanol and water together.  What if we 
stored our ethanol cannisters submerged in barrels of water?  Surely 
fire marshals would not complain about ethanol stored in solid blocks 
of water ice!  We then get all the advantages of pure ethanol, and 
extra water ice ballast to boot.
 
                                        --- Brian Wowk  

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