Bob wrote:
Justing wrote:
Haven't you ever seen a phase diagram?
Sigh. Yes. Here's one, for water: <http://wine1.sb.fsu.edu/chm1045/notes/Forces/Phase/Forces06.htm>
And your point is? Let's see, if we rapidly cool boiling water by dispersing it in supercold air... somewhere past the triple-point, it goes straight through the solid state, do not pass go, and *sublimates* directly into the air.
Now, maybe, it freezes at the molecular level, or something, first. But to the observer, it never reaches a solid state, and it turns directly into a gas. It sublimates.
My understanding is that it has something to do with the extreme temperature differential. Like you get with a bunch of boiling LNG floating on the Mystic River under the Tobin Bridge. Which is what that guy from the USDOE said.
The argument here is over your use of the word 'sublimate'. Liquid water can't sublimate by definition, since its a liquid. We're saying that your chemist friend is using the word incorrectly. That's all. Peter