The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Massive Resistance

2.11.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 5 of 5)

WOULDN'T IT BE ICE?
Re: Russell Seitz's letter (under "Ice and Sea") in response to Christopher Holland et al. in Reader Mail's Knight and Day:

A little nit to pick with Russell Seitz's letter on Friday. It doesn't appear that he took into account the 8-9 percent expansion in volume of ice compared to water. When you factor that in, the resulting increase in volume of the cubic meter briny elixir only comes to about 22.5 liters, not the 25. So that's one less bolt required to contain the overflow.

I'm not sure I agree with his verdict on Miss Carr's analogy. By then time the ice melts in my Margarita, I'm usually not caring to the point where I'm actually measuring any volume increase. But I do agree with his assessment of her abominable suggestion of mixing ice and Scotch. What are we, barbarians?

BTW, I've got 7 feet of flipin' snow in my front yard, and that's not counting the snow banks. Where is the *#^&$% global warming when you need it?
-- Karl F. Auerbach
Eden, Utah

I am writing this in response to Russell Seitz's statement that "When a cubic meter of fresh water ice afloat in the sea melts, its melt water occupies 25 liters more volume than the seawater it displaced as ice."

This statement is simply not true and it is contrary to the laws of physics.

The total volume of water doesn't increase when ice melts in seawater. Water, due to its unique molecular properties, expands JUST PRIOR to freezing. When ice melts, the volume of fresh water it produces DECREASES in proportion to its volume in a frozen state. Since the volume of fresh water is less than that of frozen water; once the ice melts completely in seawater the resultant volume remains constant.

Also, the mass of the fresh water, pressing down on the saltwater, will increase the density of the saltwater, thus decreasing it's volume in proportion to the mass of the fresh water. It doesn't matter if that fresh water is in a liquid or frozen state, it's mass, and the resulting density of the saltwater it produces, remains constant. Once again, the total volume of water will remain constant even after the ice melts.

Try it for yourself: Mix up a glass of salt water, float some ice in it, and see if the resultant volume rises or remains constant once the ice has melted. You'll notice that the volume remains constant.
-- Raymond Swanson
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Christopher Holland can change his statement to, "when the ice hits the water, 97.5% of the increase in sea level is complete" instead of "all of the increase in sea level is complete" to satisfy our sophist weatherman, Russell Seitz. George clearly misses the first order effect (I guess he could just be overly concerned about the minor effect -- 2.5% correct either way -- F student) and Christopher and Tricia miss a second order effect (97.5 % correct -- A students). Naturally Russell Seitz comes in to attack Christopher and Tricia. You would think that there was government science funding at stake or maybe some sort of theoretical religious controversy. I guess the lack of a Cambridge weather report means the weather is colder than average today. Does Mr. Seitz serve ice with his Kool-Aid?
-- Clifton Briner

COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Re: Neal McCluskey's College Tuition Inflators:

It was amusing to read of Senator Alexander's exhortation to the higher education lobby that it should close the "communication gap" between itself and Capitol Hill politicians. What a nice turn of phrase! In Boston, we call it a "shakedown".
-- Paul Curley

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Taxes, Foreign Policy, Education, John McCain, Economics, Business, Entitlements, Islam, Abortion, Global Warming, Books, Hollywood, Constitution, Law, Military, Iraq, NATO, Socialism, Conservatism, Immigration, Energy