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Cliffs notes:
Liquid water is the best coolant in the world due to the fact that there is no known liquid (or any other phase of matter for that... er... matter) with a higher specific heat.
**************************I recall reading a recent posting about cooling the engine, and if I'm not mistaken, somebody posted saying that water was not a good coolant due to its physical properties. I was thinking about this tonight, as my dad was arguing that antifreeze was a better coolant than water and that I should use a higher percentage of antifreeze than water. I showed him that antifreeze has a specific heat of a roughly 2.5 J/g C, and then showed him the specific heat of water. "Interesting," he said. He never admits when he is wrong =). I recalled from my college chemistry studies that water has an incredibly high specific heat of 4.184 J/g C - that is it takes 4.184 joules to heat 1 gram of water one degree celsius. Although liquid water does have a relatively low boiling point (100 C), there is no material in existance that has a higher specific heat, therefore there is no liquid that can absorb more energy per measure of mass than water. As previously conceded, water does have a relatively low boiling point, and this is a setback, because once it boils and is converted into a gas, the bottom falls out on the specific heat - but I stand by my theory - there is no better coolant in the world than water. Note: Boiling point can be controlled with pressure - the higher the pressure, the higher the boiling point - therefore water's only setback can still be controlled via a high pressure cooling system. Any one care to comment?
Cupholder?
Kenny...
PETZ Member #5
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