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  

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