OT: This Swift thing

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Wed, 11 Jun 2014 08:48:36 -0400, Roy Smith wrote:

> In article <53984cd2$0$29988$c3e8da3$5496439d at news.astraweb.com>,
>  Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python at pearwood.info> wrote:
> 
>> Yes, technically water-cooled engines are cooled by air too. The engine
>> heats a coolant (despite the name, usually not water these days) which
>> then heats the air.
> 
> Not water???  I'm not aware of any water-cooled engines which use
> anything other than water.  Well, OK, it's really a solution of ethylene
> or propylene glycol in water, but the water is what does most of the
> heat transfer.  The glycol is just there to provide freezing point
> depression and boiling point elevation.

Would you consider it fair to say that, say, vinegar is "not water"? 
Depending on the type of vinegar, it is typically around 5-10% acetic 
acid, and the rest water. Spirit vinegar can be as much as 20% acetic 
acid, which still leaves 80% water.

How about brandy, which is typically 35%-60% alcohol, with most of the 
rest being water? Or household bleach, which is typically a 3-6% solution 
of sodium hypochlorite? Or milk (85-90% water)? I think it is fair to 
describe those as "not water". You shouldn't try to put out a fire by 
pouring a bottle of brandy on it.

Automotive cooling fluid in modern sealed radiators is typically a 
mixture of 50% anti-freeze and 50% water.

Back in the day, car radiators were *literally* water-cooled in the sense 
that the radiator was filled with 100% water. You filled it from the tap 
with drinking water. In an emergency, say broken down in the desert, you 
could drink the stuff from the radiator to survive. If you tried that 
with many modern cars, you would die a horrible death.



-- 
Steven D'Aprano
http://import-that.dreamwidth.org/