X-Message-Number: 15321
From: 
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 11:52:06 EST
Subject: concrete cryonics

I was off line for some time, and now I try to keep up with a mass of 
messages. When far aways from the screen, I was working with cement. That 
powder has an interesting effect: it dries the skin and the fingers. This is 
well known, but how it works?

There is my answer: The powder is made from very small elements, under one 
micrometer large. At this scale, the skin is not continuous and let some dust 
grain to enter the body. These grains have a large surface for their volume 
and floating molecules in the intercellular liquid gets adsorbed on them. 
This reduce the osmotic presure of the liquid and a part of it must be taken 
by nearby cells and another part is flushed in another part of the body. I 
think this is this second effect who is responsible for the drying observed.

Now why talking about that on cryonet?
If this is indeed what is undergoing, then the process is the contrairy to 
the one in freezing: Here, ice starts in the extracellular liquid and 
concentrate chemicals in the remainning liquid phase. By osmotic effect, 
water is pumped out of cells and so they are dryed. In the same time, large 
ice crystals form outside.

With an adsorbing powder as cement, we could pump water inside the cells and 
so, counteract the freezing effect. The dust grains would too act as 
nucleation sites for ice crystals, so there would be more crystals, each of 
smaller size. It seems that the large size of some crystals is a big damaging 
factor, reducing their scale may be benefical, some antifreeze molecules work 
precisely along that way. 

If cement or a similar powder could be used as a freeze reducing damage 
agent, it would be interesting: The cost is very low, it can be found nearly 
anywhere, there is no FDA control on it and anyone can buy, or use it without 
asking for permission. 

I think some simple experiments could test that idea, I would be very 
interested to see the results. Please don't rush to take a patent :-)

Yvan Bozzonetti.

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=15321