Re: vapor versus gas

[Sampere <sampere@SUHEP.PHY.SYR.EDU>]

At atmospheric pressure, CO2 is a gas and will liquify at the temperature you
stated.  In a CO2 extinguisher, CO2 can exist as a liquid.  The temperature of
this liquid is room temperature, feel the extinguisher to find out.  For fun,
go find a phase diagram for CO2.

Sam

paul o johnson wrote:

> Leigh
>
> As impressed as I am with your erudition and as much as I learn from your
> contributions, you do occasionally leave me very confused. In your piece
> dated Sun, 25 Jul, 18:15:01, you stated::
>
> > Carbon dioxide is a liquid at room temperature (otherwise CO2 fire
> > extinguishers wouldn't work. Who says, e.g., "CO2 Vapor is responsible
> > for a small fraction of the greenhouse effect"? CO2 is almost always
> > called a gas at room temperature.
>
> The way I read this, you are saying that carbon dioxide is really a liquid
> at room temperature even though folks almost always call it a gas. So those
> of us who believe it to be a gas are wrong.
>
> My Chemical Rubber handbook lists the boiling point of CO2 as minus 108
> degrees F. So how can it be a liquid at a temperature 180 F degrees above
> its boiling point?
>
> What have I missed?
>
> poj
begin:vcard
n:Sampere;Sam
tel;fax:315-443-9103
tel;work:315-443-5999 or 443-9705
x-mozilla-html:FALSE
org:Syracuse University;Department of Physics
version:2.1
email;internet:sampere@physics.syr.edu
title:Lab Manager
adr;quoted-printable:;;Syracuse University=0D=0ADepartment of Physics=0D=0A;Syra

cuse;NY;13244;USA
fn:Sam
end:vcard