Dry water is now a reality


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Powdered water ? a favourite among many bad dad jokes involving improbable concepts such as flameproof matches, inflatable dartboards and glow-in-the-dark sunglasses ? is now a reality.

And not only is it not funny anymore, it may also save the planet from global warming.

In science circles, it's known as "dry water" and it seems those circles have kept it to themselves for quite a while, because it was actually discovered back in 1968, then forgotten about.

It was even "rediscovered" in 2006, purely for study purpose, but it's taken a group of scientists at the University of Liverpool in the UK to find a use for it.

"There's nothing else quite like it," researcher Ben Carter, said.

"Hopefully, we may see 'dry water' making waves in the future."

"It" is actually tiny droplets of of water coated in modified silica, better known in nature as sand.

They make up 95 per cent of the powdered water and the silica prevents the droplets from combining and creating the liquid version.

The result is a substance that resembles fine sugar and one that has the potential to provide a lucrative return for its powerful ability to soak up gases.

That makes it an ideal candidate for research into finding ways to absord and store a greenhouse gas such as carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, the Liverpool team told the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society this week.

In laboratory-scale research, the team found that dry water absorbed over three times as much carbon dioxide as ordinary, uncombined water and silica in the same space of time.

It could also be used to collect and store gas in commercial quantities that are difficult to mine, such as frozen methane deposits on the ocean floor, they said.

Not only that, dry water technology can also apply to other liquids.

The Liverpool University team showed that by transforming a simple emulsion - such as an oil and water mix - into dry water, it could provide a safer way to store and transport potentially harmful industrial materials.

So apologies to dads worldwide for that one.

The good news is - as far as we can tell - no one's yet to crack that "glass hammer" idea.

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The Liverpool University team showed that by transforming a simple emulsion - such as an oil and water mix - into dry water, it could provide a safer way to store and transport potentially harmful industrial materials.

Cool. I read about it long ago but I forget about it too.

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In laboratory-scale research, the team found that dry water absorbed over three times as much carbon dioxide as ordinary, uncombined water and silica in the same space of time.

Ok, so it is kinetically superior when it comes to absorbing gas, but what is the solubility of CO2 relative to normal water? I'm guessing that the kinetic advantage comes from its absurdly huge surface area compared to bulk water, but for a given volume of matter, this stuff has less water available to hold the CO2. My guess is that when you're comparing volumes, a cubic meter's worth of plain old H2O can hold more gas than a cubic meter of this stuff, meaning that "saving the world from greenhouse gasses" is a load of bull.

The Liverpool University team showed that by transforming a simple emulsion - such as an oil and water mix - into dry water, it could provide a safer way to store and transport potentially harmful industrial materials.

This doesn't necessarily work. Producing this stuff increases the volume of the processed material, perhaps drastically. Many harmful industrial materials are transported as liquids because that is the most efficient (compact) form. People won't accept a 50% hit in transport capacity, especially when it comes to fuels that are favored because of their energy density in the first place.

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an ideal candidate for research into finding ways to absord and store a greenhouse gas such as carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere ...

Seems to me, planting more trees would be easier. ;)

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In one of the scenes of the Alien 4 movie, a guy puts a solid object into a glass, then exposes it to a beam of light which turns it into whiskey! I thought it was cool when I first saw it :)

So it's exciting to learn about dry water now. I have a couple of questions though: by how much does the mass of the water increase when you solidify it and how do you turn it back into liquid form?

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So it's exciting to learn about dry water now. I have a couple of questions though: by how much does the mass of the water increase when you solidify it and how do you turn it back into liquid form?

Since the stuff is 95% not-water, assuming that they used some sort of silicate derivative, it would be over twice the mass of pure water. If you're looking for the mass and volume per equivalent amount of pure liquid, I don't want to do that calculation.

Since the silicate material is denser than water, you can separate by centrifugation, or you can crack the shells and pass the stuff through a filter. Alternatively, since the silicate shell obviously does gas exchange with small molecules, you could heat the stuff and then re-condense whatever comes out.

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