Science question for the brainy among us

[BVB]

Let's say you've got a small metal sphere with a diameter of about one inch or so. Something you can hold in your hand. It's got a hole in it that we'll use in just a moment, but that will be sealed again so that the surface is solid and perfectly seamless.

Now we take a large volume of water -- a gallon or so? -- and we use magic to temporarily reduce it so that we can pour it into ... oh, let's say that sphere we prepared earlier.

Then quickly using a second spell, we seal the shrunkified liquid in the metal sphere so that (as I suggested before) it has no seal. Each spot on the sphere is a consistant thickness and resiliency (i.e. no implied weak points or cracks). After the spell, the sphere should not retain any magical properties.

Quick recap: magically miniaturized volume of liquid sealed in a (non-magical) metal sphere.

Our final step is to cancel the shrinking spell cast on the water.

What will the effect be?

 

[Tsyr]

Too much dependence on understanding the nature of magicaly shrunken water.

 

[Psion]

Liquid unlike gas is incompressible. The nature of the magic might become important here, but the basic effect would be that the sphere would be deformed and/or broken if it is made of a normal substance.

 

[BVB]

Too much dependence on understanding the nature of magicaly shrunken water.

Actually, I'm focusing more on the resulting effect of a large volume of liquid suddenly (instantly?) being constrained in a reduced space. Ignore the magic for a moment. Think compression.

 

[Wicht]

Seems like the instant compression of water forms ice IIRC but frozen water expands as well....

Would the result be an icy explosion of some sort?

 

[Andor]

Well, water doesn't compress worth a damm, so if the water tries to return to its normal volume after the spell wears off it will burst the sphere explosively. Even if the metal is arbitrarily strong the compression of the water will heat the whole thing up hot enought to melt any non-magical metal.

Another liquid that is more compressable might remain stable untill a flaw is introduced into the sphere to cause it to burst. Though I can't off the top of my head think of anything that can compress from a gallon volume to less than 1"^3 without ludicrous pressure. Maybe a gas would be a better idea?

-Andor

 

[BVB]

so it sounds as though the problem will be that water can't be compressed. But finding itself in a compressed state just the same will ... what? cause some sort of heat release?

 

[physics_ninja]

If you're trying to build a bomb, there are easier ways of doing that. But your idea would work if you could get the magic and physics right.

If you're trying to make an eight-pound ball, well, that would work too.

What are you trying to do?

 

[DanMcS]

A gallon of water (3785 mL) compressed down to roughly a cubic inch (16.38 mL) is a compression to .0043 of the original volume.

Water is so resistant to compression that it is mostly modelled as incompressible, so to get that much compression would require titanic pressure. The sphere would instantly explode.

 

[BVB]

With how much force or energy?