Re: H2O

[Lois Breur Krause <krause@CLEMSON.EDU>]

> A college physics student asks the following question:
>
>
> > How can water be both a good thermal insulator and a good electrical
> > conductor?
>
> How would the list answer this?
>
> Jim Green
> mailto:JMGreen@sisna.com
> http://users.sisna.com/jmgreen


at the ever constant risk of sounding like an idiot:  is this a trick
question?  1) thermal insulation properties have more to do with specific
heat of a substance, and 2) water is a very poor electrical conductor
unless it has lots of foreign ions present.
-lois
> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

Dr. Lois Breur Krause
Department of Geological Sciences
442 Brackett Hall
Clemson University
Clemson SC  29634

teaching chemistry, physics, astronomy and geology to elementary education
majors.

How We Learn and Why We Don't: Student Survival Guide,
available from International Thompson Publishing, ISBN 0324-011970

http://home.earthlink.net/~breurkrause

krause@clemson.edu