Newsgroups: sci.space
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news.harvard.edu!noc.near.net!uunet!microsoft!wingnut!daveka
From: daveka@microsoft.com (Dave Kappl)
Subject: Re: Abyss--breathing fluids
Message-ID: <1993Apr27.165924.24660@microsoft.com>
Date: 27 Apr 93 16:59:24 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Corp.
References: <1r8esd$lrh@agate.berkeley.edu> <C564I3.2zt@fs7.ece.cmu.edu> <1r85teINN366@shelley.u.washington.edu>
Distribution: usa
Lines: 26

In article <1r8esd$lrh@agate.berkeley.edu> isaackuo@skippy.berkeley.edu wrote:
> Are breathable liquids possible?
> 
> I remember seeing an old Nova or The Nature of Things where this idea was
> touched upon (it might have been some other TV show).  If nothing else, I know
> such liquids ARE possible because...
> 
> They showed a large glass full of this liquid, and put a white mouse (rat?) in
> it.  Since the liquid was not dense, the mouse would float, so it was held down
> by tongs clutching its tail.  The thing struggled quite a bit, but it was
> certainly held down long enough so that it was breathing the liquid.  It never
> did slow down in its frantic attempts to swim to the top.
> 
> Now, this may not have been the most humane of demonstrations, but it certainly
> shows breathable liquids can be made.
> -- 
> *Isaac Kuo (isaackuo@math.berkeley.edu)	*       ___
> *					* _____/_o_\_____
> *	Twinkle, twinkle, little .sig,	*(==(/_______\)==)
> *	Keep it less than 5 lines big.	* \==\/     \/==/

This was on "That's Incredible" several years ago.  The volume of liquid
the rat had to breath was considerably smaller than what a human would have
to breath, so maybe it is possible for a rat but not a human.

DaveTheRave
