Liquid Definition and 1000 Threads

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. brotherbobby

    Hollow and solid spheres floating in liquid

    The two situations are shown in the figures alongside. The hollow sphere has a thick heavy rim that compensates for the air inside it - both spheres have the same mass ##m_B## and radius ##r_B##. Since the bodies have the same mass ##m_B##, the mass of liquid displaced is the same ...
  2. P

    I Liquid soap pulsing as it's drawn into a syringe

    So here it is. I took a guess but I couldn't really answer, hopefully you can. Slow motion video of pulsations occurring while sucking liquid soap into a syringe.
  3. A

    Lateral pressure of a liquid exerted on a plunger

  4. D

    Phase Equilibrium of Liquid and Vapor Under External Pressure

    Suppose you have a container of water at a given temperature T (say normal room temperature) with a vacuum above it. Presumably water will evaporate until there is sufficient vapor that the pressure of it above the water is the SVP for that temperature. Now suppose that there is air above the...
  5. brotherbobby

    Understanding Pascal's Law: Why is Force Greater in One Cylinder Than the Other?

    Answer : Using Pascal's law, this is my answer : ##\color{blue}{\boxed{\vec F_a = \vec F_c < \vec F_b}}##. Reasoning : Forces ##F_a## and ##F_c## are equal because the pressures required at the two cylinders for case (c) is the same as that required in (a). It doesn't matter how many of those...
  6. A

    Hydrostatic pressure of liquid in a cart on an inclined ramp

    Sorry for my English, I'm Spanish. I am not able to make the force diagram for the liquid. I am still in high school and started now little hydrostatic. If someone can give me a light, I would be very .grateful.
  7. thommy

    Mars: estimations about its colonization - liquid water issue

    ''Elon Musk says he plans to send 1 million people to Mars by 2050 by launching 3 Starship rockets every day and creating 'a lot of jobs' on the red planet'' It's been a while since Elon made the above statement, however isn't he being extremely optimistic about everything, really? What are...
  8. Viona

    B Which Cleanroom ISO Class is suitable for Liquid Crystal research?

    I was wondering which cleanroom ISO class is suitable for liquid crystal research?
  9. S

    Misc. Frying food - Dry breadings vs liquid breadings

    Most recipes I see on the internet for fried chicken advocate a dry breading. By contrast, most recipes for fried fish use a liquid breading, although they sometimes specify a preliminary coating with flour before the fish is dipped in the liquid breading. Are there reasons for this pattern -...
  10. somasimple

    What is a Liquid/Liquid Junction Potential and Its Role in Batteries?

    Hi, Is there a liquid/liquid junction potential between two liquids of same composition but different concentrations WHEN there is no external electrical circuit and then NO electrodes? (Of course this potential is not measurable). Thanks,
  11. L

    Liquid Diamonds: A Mystery of Gas Giants

    Liquid diamonds apparently may form in gas giants where huge atmospheric pressure compresses carbon into diamonds that are then liquified as they fall downward into zones of increasing pressure. I thought a diamond was a crystal structure of carbon. How can this also be a liquid...
  12. Rub3y

    How much liquid water do I need to get a relative humidity of 10%?

    I need to calculate how much liquid (mass) could cause a relative humidity of 10% in a pipeline. The pressure in the pipeline is 38 barg and the temperature is 105 °C. I calculated the partial pressure of the water which would be 3,74 bar (with formula relative humidity and antoine...
  13. kunalvanjare

    PWM for controlling liquid flow through a Solenoid Valve

    Hello guys, I am looking to control the flowrate of water through a Solenoid Valve in a continuous closed-loop process. I inquired about Proportional Flow Solenoid Valves and these are a little too expensive and only a handful of manufacturers are supplying those. But I looked online for some...
  14. A

    Granular Conveyor -- Granular Material acts as a liquid?

    My final year experiment involves vibrating a granular conveyor with the same amplitude at at different frequencies. (See picture for experiment set-up). Between 5-115 Hz, the glass beads bounce erratically. As soon as the frequency hits 120Hz or higher, the beads remain on the surface, and can...
  15. brotherbobby

    Apparent weight of body immersed in liquid

    I have to assume that ##h## is the height of the body. The graph above shows how the apparent weight of the body changes as it is immersed into the liquid. In (a), after immersing the whole height of the body, the apparent weight ##W_{\text{app}} > 0##. Hence the upthrust ##U < w_B \Rightarrow...
  16. ahelpinghand

    Need an odorless additive that can to turn liquid into solid

    I would like to know of any compound that I can use to add to a liquid that can turn it into a solid. I would like the liquid to be air drying and form a solid but slightly fragile structure. Almost semi-brittle, where if hit or crushed, small pieces of crystals would break off. Is there such...
  17. E

    Battery to support Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystal (PDLC) Film

    We are incorporating a PDLC layer into a product being developed by us and it requires almost constant activation to remain transparent. The PDLC draws 0.557 Watts of power per hour at 60VAC. The goal is to get a battery/power source (of any type even proprietary) to last the upwards of 26,000...
  18. O

    I Force on a rigid body inside a liquid flow

    Hi, I am trying to find out Force on a rigid body when it is completely inside a fluid with density p, i.e. the body is completely drowned in the liquid and then another liquid is pushed into the container with different density 'r' (such than r > p). Thanks.
  19. vxiaoyu18

    Keep working on the liquid pressure problem

    Without calculating the friction, if the force of gravity on the piston, the initial force F on the piston S is what? 1. F=-ρgSH; 2. F=-（1/2）ρgSH; 3. F=0; 4. Other. I'm not sure which is the correct result, can someone help me analyze it again?
  20. Y

    Low-Temp Liquid Helium System: Evaporation Heat & Temperature

    We consider a system composed of liquid helium in equilibrium with its vapor at very low temperature T, each phase being considered extensive. We neglect the mass of the gas compared to that of the liquid, as well as the heat capacities of the gas and the walls compared to that of the liquid...
  21. Vivek98phyboy

    Reason for Calculating Surface tension

    When calculating force due to surface tension across a hemispherical drop, we look at only the circumference and multiply it by the value of surface tension. When we know that it is the surface tension which is responsible for the curved surface of the liquid drop, why don't we calculate the...
  22. Vivek98phyboy

    Excess pressure inside a Liquid drop

    While studying about the effects of surface tension i came across the excess pressure inside a liquid drop. Here they considered a hemisphere ABCDE from the drop and listed out the conditions for it to be in equilibrium. The forces acting on them are taken as F1= 2πRS F2= P1×(Projection...
  23. binbagsss

    Droplets on a solid / liquid surface (engineering)

    Why is it important to study this? And what makes them interesting to study?
  24. Sebastiaan

    How To Name a Mixture of a Solid and a Liquid

    Alright, I'm trying to find out what the Chemical naming convention would be of a Mixture Aluminium (nanoparticles) and Liquid Oxygen. The Mixture is mended as a monopropellant in a lunar rocket engine.
  25. harsh22902

    Surface Tension and Capillary Rise

    According to this definition I am unable to understand why does surface tension acts tangentially to surface of contact of liquid and capillary tube. And is the force of surface tension balancing the adhesive forces which lead to capillary rise OR it is the reason behind the capillary rise?
  26. CheesyPeeps

    Force on side of tank filled with liquid of variable specific weight

    Homework Statement: An open tank with a rectangular side 1 m wide and 4 m high is filled with a liquid of variable specific weight, γ, with γ = 50 + 2y (N/m3), where y is measured vertically downward from the free surface. Find the magnitude of the force on the side of the tank. Homework...
  27. EEristavi

    How Does Thermal Expansion Affect the Density of Liquids?

    ##\Delta V = \beta V \Delta T####\rho _2 = \frac m {V + \Delta V} = \frac { \rho V} {V(1+\beta \Delta T)} = \frac \rho {1+\beta \Delta T}## ##\Delta \rho = \rho _2 - \rho = \frac \rho {1+\beta \Delta T} - \rho = \rho (\frac 1 {1+\beta \Delta T} - 1) = \rho \frac {-\beta \Delta T} {1+\beta \Delta...
  28. John Archer

    Controlling (liquid) flow and pressure at very low flow rates

    System in question. Centrifugal pump (seal packing is water cooled) Fluid is water. Main system pressure is 55Psi. I need the water pressure to be around 25Psi. I also need the flow rate to be very low (think, maybe 1oz per minute). Basically, I need slightly more than say 30 drops per minute...
  29. men5j2s

    Estimate the temperature change due to vaporizing liquid

    I'm releasing pressurized propellant into another chamber which is at atmospheric pressure, I want to estimate the temperature to which that chamber will drop to and the rate at which the liquid (collecting in the new chamber) will boil. The second chamber is open to atmosphere via a small...
  30. T

    What is the limit of liquid propane in a tank?

    The Propane industry mandates that a tank not be filled more than 80%. The question I have is this: how do I calculate the limit of liquid propane in a standard 3800 liter tank given a 30 degree rise in temperature (from 273 K to 303 K) such that it will not rupture the tank? For example, can I...
  31. Frigus

    How can the pressure be more in liquid flowing with less speed?

    Before I have read Bernoulli's theorem I believed that pressure is more in liquid flowing with more speed but today I have read Bernoulli's theorem where this theorem says that the pressure is more in liquid flowing with lesser velocity please tell me how can this explained,with equation I...
  32. Frigus

    Why do we feel pressure from the downside in a liquid

    We know that pressure at a point in liquid is due weight of water couloum above that point but why does we experience force from downside face of object
  33. B

    Shock wave through a liquid metal filled steel tube

    Would an A36 steel tube filled with liquid mercury be able to transmit a shock wave longitudinally through the liquid mercury with a peak pressure higher than the yield strength of the steel tube? My thinking is that since the shock wave is traveling normal to the tube wall, it should not be...
  34. M

    Undergraduate physics: Body flows inside liquid [ v(x)=? and V(lim)=? ]

    Homework Statement: Object inside liquid Homework Equations: T=k*v^2 F=m*a We hold an object with a mass (m) inside a liquid. On t=0 we free the object. Except the weight there is another one force, the friction of the liquid, witch is T=k*v^2 ( v=instant speed, and k=constant > 0). Also...
  35. P

    Boiling off Liquid Argon Using A High Powered Resistor

    I understand that liquid argon is constantly boiling when it's in contact with the air in the lab, but I want to increase that boil off rate. Because of that, I got myself a high powered resistor (1 ohm, 100 W) and got the highest current power supply I had (5A). When I supply about 5 V and 5 A...
  36. T

    Entropy increase of solid vs liquid

    A hypothetical question. Heat Q is transferred from water to a metallic solid. Both have same heat capacities and the same initial temperature. Now since molecules in a liquid are more randomly oriented than a solid, will the entropy decrease of the liquid be more than the entropy increase of...
  37. M

    I What happens in the molecular structure of a liquid (imcompressible)?

    Suppose you have a liquid with high potential energy at a height [H] in a first moment. In a second moment, the liquid loses its potential energy (that is converted into kinetic energy) and fall in a cylinder at height [h] .IF the liquid is incompressible what happens with the molecules in the...
  38. Anand Sivaram

    I Liquid Air and Compressed Air Density

    Densities of Normal Air is 1.225 kg/m3 at STP, whereas the density of Liquid Air is 870 kg/m3. That means liquid air is 710x denser that normal air. Then suppose, we compress normal air to more than 710 atmospheric pressure, then it could have a density more than that of liquid air. Is this...
  39. kolleamm

    A liquid hardening wax material?

    I need a wax like material I can buy that I can paint onto a surface and then have it harden on it's own. I want to create fine details on a plastic model, so I would coat the model in wax with a brush, have the wax dry, and then sculpt out the details later. My ideas so far are wax for waxing...
  40. Philip Koeck

    Change in Entropy of a Solid or Liquid

    What about if we allow for a temperature and volume change in a solid or a liquid? Would the entropy change still only depend on the temperature change or also on the volume change. For a solid I would think that the volume change doesn't matter since it doesn't change the "amount of disorder"...
  41. T

    A How to find the volume change of CO2 when compressed into liquid?

    Hi, Can anyone guide me with an approach to find the liquid volume of CO2 when a gas of 4.14x10-6 m3 at -20°C and 1 bar is compressed to liquid at 25bar, without change in temperature?
  42. Dene

    I can't seem to keep my Paraffin wax in liquid form

    Hello everyone, I'm trying to make lubrication out of paraffin, this is what I am doing, 1/3 melted paraffin wax, 1/3 paraffin oil, and 1/3 xylene. After melting the wax I add the oil, I then add the oil, mix it well to the correct consistency, I then transfer it to a glass container where I...
  43. DarkSkinDude

    Combustion of an explosive liquid bubble

    Problem Statement: An explosive liquid at temperature 300 K contains a spherical bubble of radius 5 mm, full of its vapour. When a mechanical shock to the liquid causes adiabatic compression of the bubble, what radius of the bubble is required for combustion of the vapour, given that the vapour...
  44. fluidistic

    A Fermi liquid theory vs Hohenberg-Kohn theorems + Kohn-Sham equations

    Are the Hohenberg-Kohn theorems insanely more powerful than the Fermi liquid theory? At first glance it looks like I'm comparing apples to oranges. But here is my reasoning. The Fermi liquid theory describes well the normal state (i.e. non superconductive and other exotic behaviors) of metals...
  45. S

    How can we prevent clogging in a drum dryer used for drying liquid digestate?

    I am working on a project to dry liquid digestates (residue from the fermentation process of biogas plants). The liquid digestate has a dry matter (DM) content of about 3%. The digestate is primarily made up of animal manure and maize silage. It is a non-Newtonian fluid having a viscosity of 4...
  46. E

    Show that a tilted free liquid surface undergoes shear stress

    i really can't understand the answer of this question, is the question 1.3 in fluid mechanics by Frank ,M White For the triangular element in Fig P1.3, show that a tilted free liquid surface, in contact with an atmosphere at pressure pa, must undergo shear stress and hence begin to flow. i...
  47. FallenApple

    Are short term liquid investing strategies better than long term ones?

    Because of the statistical nature of autocorrelation, we know that time events that are closer together are more correlated to each other than to time events that are further apart. Which makes sense because differing perturbations of complex chaotic systems can, and do, have wildly differing...
  48. Navin

    Thrust on an triagular lamina emersed in a liquid.

    I feel there is a really obvious flaw in my logic but i can't pin it down So i have to find the thrust on the lamina which is basically force of bauyancy F(bouyancy)= Vρg Now volume of the triangular lamina is its rea into its hieght. v = Ah hence F = Ahρgsome information i feel i didnt take...
  49. Q

    What Causes a Strange Liquid to Glow Blue When Disturbed?

    Hi A few days ago while at a sea terminal at night i noticed a strange liquid floating on top of the water, it has a light brown color and when it floats undisturbed by any thing falling on it like for example Sand, Stones, or any thing else, it is just a Light Brown liquid, the strange thing...
  50. T

    I Simple harmonic oscillators on floating object in liquid

    How can I find omega on an object that is floating on water which is moving up and down on the object? The problem goes by giving you a cylindrical object with radius r and height H, pw(density of water), pc(density of circle) and x(t)=a*cos(wt). I do not understand why pw*pi*r^2*dg=pc*pi*r^2Hg
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