X-Message-Number: 2201 Date: Tue, 4 May 93 00:49:15 CDT From: Brian Wowk <> Subject: CRYONICS Reaction Rate Tim Freeman: > Mike Darwin says that LOX corrodes steel at LN2 temperatures. I > thought we had this elaborate and hopefully sound argument by Hugh > Hixon in cryomsg 0015 saying that no chemistry to speak of happens at > LN2 temperatures. Corrosion is definitely chemistry, so something is > wrong. What? If you look hard enough, you can find chemical reactions (particularly free radical reactions) that happen briskly at any temperature. The point of Hugh's article was that the fastest known reactions *in biology* are arrested at LN2 temperature. As a cryonicist, the most important thing you should remember when discussing these things is that everything inside cells becomes locked in place below -120'C. Below -120'C it doesn't matter whether you have the most reactive chemical species on Earth inside cells; they won't be able to reach each other to react. The LOX problem is uniquely related to the fact that things are not locked in place in the LN2 fluid surrounding patients. This problem will ultimately be solved by a hermetic seal and/or vapor storage. --- Brian Wowk Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=2201