[lit-ideas] Re: When Water Wasn't Wet
- From: Paul Stone <pastone@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 7 Jul 2009 15:55:50 -0400
JLS: But surely we can imagine a possible world where Water =/=
(non-equal) H20.
Not in terms of those two referents as understood by an English
Speaker who also knows that H2O is in fact what we refer to as "Water"
That's like saying x =/= x.
Whomever, and I've lost track now that this thread is >50 message long
said we should decide on the three terms:
solid water
liquid water
gaseous water
was probably closest to the "truth" as most people understand it.
Let's make this simpler and, instead of using an ionic compound, use
an element.
For the sake of argument pick the second element, Helium (He).
At temperatures above -268 C, we refer to it as Helium Gas
below that, it is liquid Helium.
until ~-272 C, and with enough pressure (just over 360 psi), you can
make it into solid Helium.
It is my contention that we conceptually think of WATER[=H2O] exactly
the same way and that its three phases are simply different forms of
"water".
p
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
