Steam & Excursion > Steam along the Ohio River! Fall of 1986.

Picture 1: Steam along the Ohio. Shot from Maysville, KY looking east.
Picture 2: Across the river from Maysville, KY.
Picture 3: Why we were there. 765 returning from Huntington, WV and the New River trips. Unfrotunately, I had camera trouble and the rest of the train pictures did not come out.

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Photo number 1 looks like a cooling tower for very large generating plant.

HotWater Wrote:
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> Photo number 1 looks like a cooling tower for very
> large generating plant.


It's steam isn't it?

milfordgap Wrote:
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> HotWater Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Photo number 1 looks like a cooling tower for
> very
> > large generating plant.
>
>
> It's steam isn't it?

Actually it is a vapor cloud, and NOT steam, since steam is invisible.

HotWater Wrote:
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> milfordgap Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > HotWater Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Photo number 1 looks like a cooling tower for
> > very
> > > large generating plant.
> >
> >
> > It's steam isn't it?
>
> Actually it is a vapor cloud, and NOT steam, since
> steam is invisible.


Steam and vapor are the same thing. Just at different pressures.

milfordgap Wrote:
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> Steam and vapor are the same thing. Just at
> different pressures.

Funny, I always thought TEMPERATURE had a little something to do with it.

If there is no steam in picture one, there is no steam in picture three.

Steam is pressurized vapor, more or less. They are same thing for all intensive purposes. It can be made by heating the water to create vapor and then actively pressurizing it or heating it in a confined space (as in steam engines) causing the pressure to build and ultimately achieving your "full head of steam." You can also make steam purely by drastic pressure changes.

Thusly, this argument seems a bit moot being as you are both correct... to a point. Temperature and pressure both affect when/how water enters a gaseous phase. The ideal gas law shows us this via the equation PV=nRT. Your arguments just originate from opposite ends of the equation. Boyle's law and Charles' law will also help explain this more should you feel the need to delve deeper.

Now, for the aforementioned "to a point" above: visibility really has nothing to do with whether it is steam or not. Depending on the environment, steam may or may not be visible. The same can be said for vapor.

As you read this, the space between your face and the screen is full of water vapor, but you can't see it can you? So that means you are clearly boiling alive in your chair.

Happy Thanksgiving.

-Froggie

Really!? Posts like this tempt me to not renew my subscription to this service.

I am sure the initial post was meant in jest.

Cheer up, dear friend. The worst is yet to come. :)

-Froggie