Opposite of Steam

BillyGalbreath · 06-13-2007, 06:03 PM

I have this question thats been bugging me for awhile now. Ok, you know when you open your freezer and all this smoke like steam comes out - but its not steam, and its not smoke.. It actually flows down towards the ground because its so cold...

What the hell is this "steam" called? I can't find the name anywhere and no one seems to know it.

St.Jimmy · 06-13-2007, 06:15 PM

frost?(is_too_short)

IsaacKuo · 06-13-2007, 06:16 PM

It's called "water". It's little droplets of water, the same stuff that clouds are made of and the same stuff that you _think_ is "steam". Steam, which is the gaseous form of water, is invisible. The "cloud" of stuff you see is actually little liquid water droplets, formed when steam cools in cooler air.

Kizzume · 06-13-2007, 06:32 PM

If you accelerated that process, you would have a freeze-dryer.

rupertwh · 06-13-2007, 06:54 PM

It's called "fog".

dasy2k1 · 06-14-2007, 06:51 AM

its a small cloud...
if it coud fall a lot further than to your floor it woudl rain!

BillyGalbreath · 06-14-2007, 08:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IsaacKuo

It's called "water". It's little droplets of water, the same stuff that clouds are made of and the same stuff that you _think_ is "steam". Steam, which is the gaseous form of water, is invisible. The "cloud" of stuff you see is actually little liquid water droplets, formed when steam cools in cooler air.

I know what it is. What I want to know is the proper name of it.

Fog is the low cloud you see mostly in the mornings. Frost is little ice crystals that form on objects.

There has got to be a name for it.

alred · 06-14-2007, 11:17 AM

i always have the tendancy to assosiate steam with bamboos ...

//dont ask me why ...

.

michaelk · 06-14-2007, 11:43 AM

Well, technically its water vapor condensation. Warm moist air around the outside of the freezer is cooled by the cold air escaping when the door is opened. When the moist air is cooled to the dew point temperature the water becomes visible AKA fog.

BillyGalbreath · 06-14-2007, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaelk

Well, technically its water vapor condensation. Warm moist air around the outside of the freezer is cooled by the cold air escaping when the door is opened. When the moist air is cooled to the dew point temperature the water becomes visible AKA fog.

That makes the most sense out of all the site's I've started this thread on. Thank you.

phantom_cyph · 06-14-2007, 12:35 PM

It is essentially the same gas that dry ice "emits" when going through sublimation. Its a *very simple* form of plasma. Its one of the closest things we have to plasma on earth-besides the freezing of lava.

St.Jimmy · 06-14-2007, 01:17 PM

fire==plasma

BillyGalbreath · 06-14-2007, 01:44 PM

A plasma is an extremely hot gas that is composed of free-floating ions (atomic nuclei stripped of some electrons - making the ions positively charged) and free electrons (negatively charged). A plasma behaves much differently than a neutral gas, and is considered the fourth state of matter. A plasma conducts electrical currents. Stars are composed of plasma.

IsaacKuo · 06-14-2007, 01:55 PM

I'm not aware of any sense in which freezing lava has anything to do with plasma.

Incidentally, plasma doesn't have to be particularly hot if the pressure is low. For example, flourescent lights use electricity flowing through a plasma, and they are usually cooler than incandescent lights.

phantom_cyph · 06-14-2007, 02:22 PM

OK, I wasn't going to get this specific, but anyway...

Technically, plasma only occurs at extreme levels of heat wherein a substance is in all three stages of matter at a subatomic level during the actual phase change when all energy is being used for the change and not for temperature increase or decrease.