best liquid coolants

[coaiti]

I was doing some research on liquid coolants. I was reading someone's post about a coolant that evaporates at lower temps than water. I was thinking about this and I realized that ethanol[or any form of alcohol] evaporates at lower temps than water. [ever spilled some on ur skin and felt how cold it became?]. but my question is that if u mixed this in with a regular watercooling system would you get better results? I know that in evap. cooling you would but you would prob get high on evaporated ethanol.....ouch. I also read about substances called electrically inert cooling fluids. I think 3M sells these and if I am correct they can be used in total immersion of cpu and all. That would be nice. anyway, How would you find out if a fluid was electrically conductive?

 

[eradda02]

through a lamp in a bucket of water!!! j/k dont do that

 

[Door Knob]

In theory the absolute best would be Mercury (transfers heat better than any other liquid). However it's poisonous and would probably make you crazy just from tinny leakage. Not to mention it weighs a ton.

"Mad Hatter" anyone?

 

[coaiti]

that is because mercury is mettalic. which means it will be electrically conductive. anyone know how to figure out if a liquid is electrically conductive?

 

[William]

Door Knob (May 08, 2001 09:13 p.m.):
In theory the absolute best would be Mercury (transfers heat better than any other liquid). However it's poisonous and would probably make you crazy just from tinny leakage. Not to mention it weighs a ton.

"Mad Hatter" anyone?

actually only the fumes are poisonous. Alchohol would not be great for evaporative cooling cause it all evaportates off. I remember this post, it was something like trifloroethane or something like that. Anyways, evaportative cooling works, if i have this right, on turning the water from water to air and back. It is from the gas stage to the water stage where water gives off a lot heat energy(exothermic) and this is why it works. Alcohol's are only appear to be cooler cause they evaporate on your skin, not because they themselves are cooler than the air around them. Their heat capicity is very low, unlike water, so they wouldn't be great in a system. Mercury would be pretty good, but you would have to have a wicked block on the cpu since mercury tends to immagelmate other metals. Water actually is an ideal cooler, it does the job well, is cheap, easy to work with, and doesn't kill you unless you do something really wrong(drown while pouring water into your system or some wierd thing). So just use water with Water Wetter to reduce the surface tension, and something to kill bacteria and other living crap. Actually, a little bit of HCl(muriatic acid is 6M HCl can be gotten at wal-mart, it is used in pools) would be good to have in your system, remember a little bit, to reduce the water hardness. It is good cause HCL and copper do not react .

 

[Door Knob]

Mercury is deadly to the touch. It aint just the fumes. Also it tends to evaporate fairly easily so fumes would come from any leaks. And yes I know mercury is metalic, that is why it conducts heat so well . Here is a good pop quiz, what is the only other metal liquid at room temperature?

Distilled watter may be a better choice than regular water because it doesn't conduct electricity as good. The distilation process removes many of the ions from the water making it less conductive. This shouldn't matter but if the spit hits the fan you'd be glad it was distilled and not tap water (no matter what though it wouldn't be good). You can buy gallons of distilled watter at your local grociery store, I know cause I stock them.

I have also heard of people mixing in radiator fluid. And there is another common mixture, Red Line, or something. I'm not sure cause I can't afford a water setup.....yet.

 

[bigdog]

my friend, i did a research paper on mercury because i got caught with some at school and had to do it and mercury is not deadly to touch, in fact you can drink mercury and be fine, the only dangerous part of mercury are the fumes which aren't necessarly deadly, but can lead to cancer in extreme cases of exposure, also a 6mm drop of mercury which ways about 1.5g would loase .01g in seven months, thats is an extremely small amount, if you don't believe me and really care to take this any further here are a couple of sources

Home

[jnews_block_5 compatible_column_notice="" number_post="4" post_offset="0" sort_by="random" excerpt_length="86"

www.nurseweek.com

http://www.ase.org.uk/therms.html

 

[Hoot]

Door Knob (May 09, 2001 12:23 a.m.):
Here is a good pop quiz, what is the only other metal liquid at room temperature?

Gallium?

Hoot

 

[asmodean]

Door Knob (May 09, 2001 12:23 a.m.):
Here is a good pop quiz, what is the only other metal liquid at room temperature?

Quicksilver. The stuff in the oldstyle temperature meters. Hazardous, but looks quite funny when left alone on a surface. Moves about, like T1000 in Terminator2.

 

[asmodean]

OH F*UCK! Just remembered Mercury is quicksilver... It's very annoying when finnish names don't correspond to the REAL names of things.
Now I'm pissed.

 

[Ridenow]

The most common additives are Redline Water Wetter and Royal Purple's Purple Ice.
If you want to test conductivity, pour a little in a plastic cap, like from a soda or milk bottle. Then you can use a meter to test it. Radio Shack has some cheap meters that work pretty well. Or you can use a battery, flashlight bulb and some wire to make a test circuit.


I think Hoot is right with gallium.

 

[William]

Hoot (May 09, 2001 07:22 a.m.):

Door Knob (May 09, 2001 12:23 a.m.):
Here is a good pop quiz, what is the only other metal liquid at room temperature?

Gallium?

Hoot

Its mercury(quick silver is the same, just the old name). Gallium is sometiumes referred to as a liquid at room temperatures, but it is a metal at room temperature, although it will melt in your hand. I don't know if it melts in the mouth though . Mercury really isn't poisonous to the touch, it is the fumes that kill you, at least that is what my chem techer tells me, and she has a phd and is OSHA certified, so i am very sure that is right. The weird thing about mercury is that when measuring it, it has a reverse miniscus cause it wants to bond with itself more than anything else.

 

[Door Knob]

Hoot (May 09, 2001 07:22 a.m.):

Door Knob (May 09, 2001 12:23 a.m.):
Here is a good pop quiz, what is the only other metal liquid at room temperature?

Gallium?

Hoot

Gallium is the other one I was thinking of. However it depends on what is considered room temperature. I read the secound article on Mercury but got a 404 error with the first. The reason why Mercury is deadly to the touch (if I rember correctly) is beacuase it is absorbed directly through the skin. Of course I had one of those old school science teachers in highschool so who knows. Anyone care to shed some light?

 

[William]

ok, well I will promis you that mercury liquid is not poisonous. In the words of my chem teacher "You can drink the stuff and nothing will happen". Its only the vapor that is deadly. On the melting point, i found some interesting stuff, here are melting points:

Helium: -272
Hydrogen: -259 (Hydrogen is actually bigger than Helium cause it is H2)
Neon: -249
Flurine -220
Blah on with gases
Mercury: -39
Bromine: -7
Francium(suprise!): 27
Cesium: 29
Gallium: 30
Rubidium: 39

Here is where I got these from
Melting Point List

 

[bigdog]

i think francium is radioactive so i'd stay away from it

 

[William]

bigdog (May 09, 2001 09:19 p.m.):
i think francium is radioactive so i'd stay away from it

it is, so is cesium, francium is one pissed off element and is HIGHLY reactive. That is why so little is known about it, cause noone over uses it cause it is so dangerous.

 

[Clemson Physics Geek]

Cesium will actually explode on contact w/ air, if I remember correctly. Just like sodium and potassium will explode (more or less) on contact w/ water