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From: MIQ@PSUVMA.BITNET
Newsgroups: sci.misc,net.games.trivia,net.puzzle
Subject: Re: what is  (Defn of liquid)
Message-ID: <8045MIQ@PSUVMA>
Date: Fri, 24-Oct-86 19:25:15 EST
Article-I.D.: PSUVMA.8045MIQ
Posted: Fri Oct 24 19:25:15 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 9-Nov-86 03:49:45 EST
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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.

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