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From: jmc@riccb.UUCP (Jeff McQuinn )
Newsgroups: sci.misc
Subject: Re: Re: Fluids and solids (was Re: H-less liquids)
Message-ID: <754@riccb.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 29-Oct-86 06:07:18 EST
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Posted: Wed Oct 29 06:07:18 1986
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> 
> Conversely, there are materials which are called "thixotropic" (spelling?),
> which are solids if stressed slowly and liquids if stressed quickly. A good
> (or should I say, bad) example are certain kinds of mud (or wet ground, as
> after a long rain) which, when a small earthquake comes, suddenly liquify
> and bury people. Another example is a kind of heavy stucco paint, which
> sprays quite tamely through a paint sprayer (liquid), but which as soon as
> it lands becomes "solid", allowing one to spray extremely thick, built-up
> layers on a vertical wall.
> 
> Rob Warnock
> Consultant
> {amdcad,sun,fortune}!redwood!rpw3

Finely divided coal exhibits this characteristic also.  You can swirl it 
around in a bucket and it behaves for all the world like a liquid.

Incidently; Van Nostrum flatly states that glass is a solid.  It sometimes
shows properties like those of a super-cooled liquid.  

						Jeff McQuinn just VAXing around