User talk:David Finn: Difference between revisions

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imported>Milton Beychok
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imported>David Finn
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== About the [[Boiling point]] article ==


David, this is in response to your comments about the [[Boiling point]] article discussion between Anthony Sebastian and myself. Yes, you are correct that many people on the planet can describe the boiling that they can easily see in their kitchens ... boiling that takes place when water is heated at a typical atmospheric pressure of 14.696 pounds per square inch (101.325 kilopascals). That is what is called the "normal boiling point" of a liquid, as clearly explained in the [[Boiling point]] article, and that is only one of water's infinite number of boiling points.
But I very much doubt that many people on the planet can see or understand that boiling is also taking place in the refrigeration unit on the back of their kitchen's refrigerator. In that unit, the refrigerant liquid (which is not water) is constantly being boiled (evaporated) into its gas phase at a pressure which is not atmospheric pressure. That gas is then compressed and cooled to convert it again into a liquid ... which is then boiled again, etc., etc. The same process is also taking place in their home's air conditioning unit if they have one. (See [[Vapor-compression refrigeration]])
I also very much doubt that many people on the planet when driving by an oil refinery and seeing the tall vessels, 100 to 300 feet high (30 to 90 meters high), are aware that boiling is constantly taking place within those vessels in order to produce the gasoline for the cars they are driving. In most cases, the boiling in those oil refinery vessels is not taking place at atmospheric pressure. (See [[Continuous distillation]] and [[Theoretical plate]])
I also very much doubt that people using small tanks of pressurized propane/butane liquid (LPG, or liquefied petroleum gas) for cooking understand that the liquid in such tanks is instantaneously boiled (flashed) into a gas when the tank valve is opened and the released liquid's surrounding environmental pressure is suddenly reduced. (See [[Flash evaporation]])
The point I am trying to make above is that boiling water in the kitchen is only a very, very tiny part of the boiling point story.
Students in the United States currently rank about 14th in reading and 17th in science compared to students world-wide. That is disgraceful. It is due in part to the fact that we do not respect our school teachers enough nor do we pay them well. However, it is also due in large part to the fact that we always try to simplify our students'  education rather than challenging them to thoroughly understand what they are studying. The point I am making is that perhaps making concepts simple is unwise ... and we should always describe scientific concepts so as to preserve their scientific integrity. As for reading and writing, our youngsters have created a language of their own ... it is called "texting" on their smart phones. Think about that for a moment ... they have used "smart" phones to create a "dumbed down" language of their own where capitalization is not used and where "your" becomes "ur".
Do we really want to "dumb down" our articles on CZ?? That is not how we landed men on the Moon nor is it how we designed a tunnel underneath the North Sea to connect England and Europe. [[User:Milton Beychok|Milton Beychok]] 17:54, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

Revision as of 08:47, 18 February 2012

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