Would this floating idea be plausable?
Basically, I was thinking in my sleep as I usually do. I thought about how less dense things float on top of more dense things. And this got me thinking towards this:
Are there any gases that are more dense than the human body?
If so, we could float on this particular gas (with gas masks or oxygen tanks of course). This also led me to think about:
Are there any liquids which are lighter than air? We could have a swimming pool of sorts that floats on the ceiling.
All we would need is the right chemical. Any scientists out there?
(I know it is unlikely as states of matter generally mean that in terms of density, Solid>liquid>gas.
Are there any gases that are more dense than the human body?
If so, we could float on this particular gas (with gas masks or oxygen tanks of course). This also led me to think about:
Are there any liquids which are lighter than air? We could have a swimming pool of sorts that floats on the ceiling.
All we would need is the right chemical. Any scientists out there?
(I know it is unlikely as states of matter generally mean that in terms of density, Solid>liquid>gas.
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A floating swimming pool or levitation gas is an interesting idea, but impossible by todays technologies.
And by-the-way, the states of matter are Solid>Liquid>Gas>Plasma, or when referring to chemicals Aqueous is one too (basically just dissolved in water)
L
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it is possible for somethings net weight to be less than a solid even if it contains a solid ex. a ballon its net weight is less than air so it floats
In Las Vegas and at the CityWalk Universal here in Los Angeles there are a couple of installations that sort achieve the affect that you are looking for. They have embedded a high power fan in the floor, and enclosed it in a cylinder shaped room. When this fan is turned on and a person assume a sky diving like position they are Levitated on a column of air. The Hollywood installation is better because the system was constructed entirely of Plexiglas. The views inside and out are incredible.
Check out this link here.
http://www.iflyhollywood.com/
Come to Hollywood and we'll make your dreams come true.
Let W be the molecular weight of the hypothetical gas you are seeking. You need a density of more than 1 kg/L to float in such a gas. So you want W*(4.46e-2)>1000, or W > 22,400. Moelcules with weights in the tens of kilodaltons (in molecular biology, the "dalton" is the name for g/mol) are proteins, RNA, DNA, and so forth.
I don't think you're going to find a gas of protein molecules anywhere near room temperature, and I don't think you want to try floating in a gas at 500 or 1000F.
Liquids and solids have effectlvely the same density, determined purely by the intermolecular spacing, which is about the same as the molecular size. So the arithmetic argument above, turned in reverse, gets you the same result.
No, there are no gases in which you could float, and no, there are no liquids at STP which are less dense than air.
Great that you're learning about this stuff! I sure hope you enjoy it, and good luck!
But I'll leave that up to the scientists to confirm...
;)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutral_Buoyancy_Laboratory
http://dx12.jsc.nasa.gov/site/index.shtml
Anyway, my intuition says that it is going to be difficult to find a liquid or gas which is both more dense than the human body, and also breathable. Although I have read of such ideas for a "breathable liquid"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_breathing
As far as I know this liquid breathing stuff is still science fiction, as briefly seen in that movie, "The Abyss".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Abyss
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096754/
So I think some kind of wearable breathing apparatus is going to be necessary, and that brings the discussion back to SCUBA diving, and the NBL.