MIQ@PSUVMA.BITNET (10/25/86)
In article <3528@columbia.UUCP>, zdenek@heathcliff.columbia.edu (Zdenek Radouch) says: >> The best definition is one I was taught in first grade: >> "A liquid flows and takes the shape of its container." >>(hence molten glass is liquid, glass is not.) >> Craig Werner (MD/PhD '91) >You learn many new and exciting things in first grade, but some of them have >to be unlearned later! Have you heard of viscosity and surface tension? >There are some pretty lazy liquids around (know honey?). It takes them a LONG >time before they take shape of a container. A few hours (honey) versus several centuries (if ever, for glass)? You'll have to do better than that. Almost any solid can undergo plastic deformation, given a large enough stress over long enough time. That doesn't make it a liquid. >Have you seen a drop of mercury >on a FLAT piece of glass? Tell me about a container. Glad to. Anyone who thinks a flat piece of material qualifies as a "container" needs some help badly. A container is something that *contains* something else, not just supports it. If an object doesn't have a definable "inside," it can't contain anything. > He who knows not and knows not that he knows not, he is a fool - shun him! Just curious-- Why? This type of man needs the most help of all. ------- --------------------------- James D. Maloy | THIS SPACE FOR RENT | The Pennsylvania State University | Call 555-2317 | --------------------------- Bitnet: MIQ@PSUECL UUCP : {akgua,allegra,cbosgd,ihnp4}!psuvax1!psuvma.bitnet!miq "I am pleased to see we have differences. May we together become greater than the sum of both of us." -- Surak of Vulcan