Message-Id: <l03102800b16be4223d6a@[153.90.236.25]>
In-Reply-To: <l03102800b16bae835e55@[153.90.236.25]>
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 14:13:19 -0600
To: pinhole@exploratorium.edu
From: Steven Eiger <eiger@montana.edu>
Subject: Re: re Specific Heat
To those concerned, I spoke to my friend about the specific heat of ice.
He spoke for an hour until I had to go to a meeting. He also spoke so
quickly and with such big words that I had trouble getting anything down at
all. Very basically, the water molecules are constrained in terms of their
rotational motion and in their translational motion, they move less in
their lattice relative to the liquid water. Thus, ice has a much lower
specific heat. Interestingly, since ice is a solid it can move more in an
acoustical way, these are long wavelength collective motions and phonons
have something to do with this; liquids can not support elastic waves such
as these. Thus, although molecular motions are much more constrained in
ice, this acoustical motion is greater in the solid and the specific heat
is slightly higher than it would be without this. There is a book called
Ice Physics by Peter Hobbs, Clarendon Press 1974 which explains much of
this and a whole lot more. There are theories relating ice formation to
the generation of electric fields in clouds and in glaciers (which can be
sensed by airplanes flying over them), and many studies using deuterated
water etc.
Steven Eiger, Ph.D.
Departments of Biology and the WWAMI Medical Education Program
Montana State University - Bozeman
Bozeman, MT 59717-3460
Voice: (406) 994-5672
E-mail: eiger@montana.edu
FAX: (406) 994-3190