willner@cfa183.harvard.edu (Steve Willner) (11/07/90)
From: willner@cfa183.harvard.edu (Steve Willner) [Sorry this is so late. Mailer problems here - again.] gabriele@riverdale.toronto.edu (Mark Gabriele ) wrote: > It is interesting to note that they physicists present theorized > that the pressure wave from the deep-water blast would actually create a > large block of ice as one of its effects. deichman@cod.nosc.mil (Shane D. Deichman) replied: > No flame, but I find this hard to believe since water is one of the few > substances which is actually densest as a liquid (at 4 degrees C., with > one atmosphere pressure). Perhaps the scientists in question forgot > about the hydrogen bonding properties of water.... Phases of ice denser than liquid water exist, but only at extreme pressures. That doesn't mean an underwater nuclear explosion would form any ice in these phases, of course. Any ice formed would probably not last long, since all the super-dense phases are unstable at ordinary pressures. (Too bad... the image of zillions of ice cubes floating slowly to the surface has a certain mad appeal.)