vol-at-ilit-y

The project (research part 1) - microscopic

2011-01-10T23:33:00.004+01:00

As the temperature rose, we saw a considerable melt of the accumulated snow on the roofs, paths and hills, as well as of the ice covering the sea, parts of it got thinner, and parts just became liquid water.

Our first day at the lab was relatively successful, given it was the first contact with a microscope and that we had to work out how to film and photograph through the actual ocular or eye piece. Our first experiment was with snow we collected from outside. The process of melting happens quickly, but it was still slow enough for us to be able to observe the gradual change of the molecules bonds and interaction when submitted to the temperature change. Outside temperature was around 0 degree and room temperature was around 20 degrees.

Here's a video of the melt, let's have a closer look:

*see higher resolution videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/optikmizer

When water freezes the hydrogen atoms bond and stick together. This allows for solidity and the hydrogen bonds are the responsible for allowing the structuring of the solidifying water.

The solid form of most substances is denser than the liquid phase; thus, a block of the solid will sink in the liquid. But, by contrast, a block of ice floats in liquid water because ice is less dense than liquid water. Upon freezing, the density of water decreases by about 9%. The reason for this is the 'cooling' of intermolecular vibrations allowing the molecules to form steady hydrogen bonds with their neighbors and thereby gradually locking into positions reminiscent of the hexagonal packing achieved upon freezing to ice. While the hydrogen bonds are shorter in the crystal than in the liquid, this locking effect reduces the average coordination number of molecules as the liquid approaches nucleation.

This phenomenon is then the explanation for why ice is less dense than liquid water and why it floats instead of sinking.

It was interesting to observe that the molecules behave as cells when melting and among our findings we gathered that when the hydrogen bonds break tiny air bubbles come to surface, which leads us to conclude they were contained in between molecules, where the bonds are established. We don't know yet if air is normally present between hydrogen bonds, or if it was the case with the snow samples we collected.

The movement of the cell like structures when melting is a more or less fluid one with stops as to re-arrange along with the other molecules which are in different states, they negotiate the position, and with very little resistance, one solid molecule becomes liquid and reunites with the already melted ones. The cell like structure then vanishes at the blink of an ice, or even faster than that.

We start composing our movement lexicon and the choreography of the dance piece through ideas that sparked after this visual stimulus. Our next days at the labs in the coming days and months will be monitored and accompanied by a scientist who will be able to spare us more data and insights under the microscopes lenses.

We will subsequently provide some information on water from this specific part of the Baltic Sea.

The project (research part 1) - intro

2011-01-09T00:46:00.004+01:00

The research period in Seili is an opportunity to gather data, audiovisual material, as well as photos and conceptual ideas to further develop the dramaturgy of the dance piece. Being immersed in the icy reality of this Baltic archipelago, the choreography will rise from observation and the inspiration contained in nature itself and the bibliography that are both being shared through regular updates on this blog. For now it is basically snow, ice, water, both microscopically and what is available to the naked eye.

As we explore the snowy island, we look forward to some warmer days (1 or 2 degrees above 0), the possible melt of some of the accumulated snow, and the labs where we will be entering the microscopic world. We look forward to sharing it!

Observation data for the last 2 days

Nauvo (Nagu) - Seili (Själö) and the Baltic Sea

2011-01-06T18:23:00.004+01:00

The bus ride from Helsinki to Nauvo takes 3 hours and 40 minutes to 4 hours. Nauvo is located off the west coast of Finland and is one of the many islands that form this Finnish archipelago. Politically it belongs to Finland, but Nauvo (Nagu in Swedish) for instance, has Swedish as its predominant language due to historical influence. This island is one of the biggest and a strategic access point to many other islands around it, Seili being one of them. The boat ride to Seili takes around 20 minutes at this time of the year.

Seili (Själö), as described in a previous post has had many uses to its installations, but the latter and the reason why we are here, is because it currently hosts one of the Research Institutes for the University of Turku.

Geographical coordinates: 60°14.4′N 021°57.7′E

When we arrived in Nauvo the thermometers pointed -18°C, the temperature rose back to -6°C and that is what

we have today. The tree branches are all frosted, helping

reinforce the deep whiteness.

As the short days go by, we will go deeper and deeper into the water of this part of the Baltic Sea, which looks like this in the winter:

On the long-term average, the Baltic Sea is ice-covered for about 45% of its surface area at the maximum annually. The ice-covered area during such a typical winter includes the Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland, Gulf of Riga, Väinameri in the Estonian archipelago, the Stockholm archipelago and the Archipelago Sea. The remainder of the Baltic itself does not freeze during a normal winter.

Freezing begins in the northern coast of the Gulf of Bothnia typically in the middle of November, reaching the open waters of Bothnian Bay in early January. The Bothnian Sea, the basin south of it, freezes on average in late February. The Gulf of Finland and that of Riga, normally freeze in late January. The ice thickness at the northernmost areas (Bothnian Bay) is of 70cm (28in) in an average winter. The further south the thinner the ice.

One of the interesting features of the Baltic Sea is that it is somewhat 'cornered' by countries and islands, which makes it a very steady sea, a sort of a big lake. It gets its fresh water mainly from the Atlantic Ocean and approximately 200 rivers from the lands surrounding. This latter combined with its shallowness are the main reasons why its water has much lower levels of salinity. These features also account for its fragility when it comes to environmental issues. It supports the economy of many nations and obviously suffers from this intense activity.

At this time of the year though, the activity is dramatically

reduced due to ice formations. Ice-breakers need to be used to

keep the main routes open.

The boat from Nauvo to Seili, is not an ice-breaker but it still
manages to keep the route open as long as the boat keeps running
and the temperature doesn't drop dramatically for too long. Huge
ice plates move as the water underneath it pushes as a result of
movement of the boat. Enjoy the video.

*see high resolution videos at: http://www.youtube.com/user/optikmizer

Reference pool

2011-01-04T18:42:00.006+01:00

Volatility derives from volatile, which obtained its current meaning from the etymology below:

volatile 1590s "fine or light," also "evaporating rapidly" (c.1600), from M.Fr. volatile, from L. volatilis "fleeting, transitory, flying," from pp. stem of volare "to fly," of unknown origin. Sense of "readily changing, fickle" is first recorded 1640s. Volatiles in M.E. meant "birds, butterflies, and other winged creatures" (c.1300).

In chemistry and physics, volatility is the tendency of a substance to vaporize. Volatility is directly related to a substance's vapor pressure. At a given temperature, a substance with higher vapor pressure vaporizes more readily than a substance with a lower vapor pressure. Volatile substances are the ones with low boiling or vaporizing points.

This chemical feature inspired our plot just as the 'elective affinities' inspired Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to write his story on the tendency of chemical substances to combine with certain substances as a metaphor for human passions being governed or regulated by the laws of chemical affinity, and examining whether or not science and the natural laws of chemistry undermine or uphold the institution of marriage, as well as other human social relations, or simply more solid bonds.

Our object of analysis is going to be water and its thermodynamic features, meaning all of its states and transitions from ice to vapor. Human volatility could be the motivation to allow the elective affinities to melt their solid bonds and create others elsewhere.

Some characteristics of water:

Density of liquid water
Temp (°C)	Density (kg/m³)^[11]^[12]
+100	958.4
+80	971.8
+60	983.2
+40	992.2
+30	995.6502
+25	997.0479
+22	997.7735
+20	998.2071
+15	999.1026
+10	999.7026
+4	999.9720
0	999.8395
−10	998.117
−20	993.547
−30	983.854
The values below 0 °C refer to supercooled water.

The solid form of most substances is denser than the liquid phase; thus, a block of the solid will sink in the liquid. But, by contrast, a block of ice floats in liquid water because ice is less dense than liquid water. Upon freezing, the density of water decreases by about 9%. The reason for this is the 'cooling' of intermolecular vibrations allowing the molecules to form steady hydrogen bonds with their neighbors.

An important feature of water is its polar nature. The water molecule forms an angle, with hydrogen atoms at the tips and oxygen at the vertex. Since oxygen has a higher electronegativity than hydrogen, the side of the molecule with the oxygen atom has a partial negative charge. An object with such a charge difference is called a dipole. The charge differences cause water molecules to be attracted to each other (the relatively positive areas being attracted to the relatively negative areas) and to other polar molecules. This attraction contributes to hydrogen bonding, and explains many of the properties of water, such as solvent action.

The melting point of ice is 0°C (32°F, 273K) at standard pressure. The boling point of liquid water is 100°C (212°F, 373.15K), also at standard pressure.
The BIPM's 10th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) later defined one standard atmosphere to equal precisely 1013250dynes per square centimeter(101.325kPa).

Water vapor or water vapour, also aqueous vapor, is the gas phase of water. Water vapor is one stateof water within the hydrosphere. Water vapor can be produced from the evaporation of boiling liquid water or from the sublimation of ice. Under typical atmospheric conditions, water vapor is continuously generated by evaporation and removed bycondensation. Water vapor is lighter than air and triggers convection currents that can lead to clouds. Water vapor is a potentgreenhouse gas along with other gases such as carbon dioxide and methane.

Let us continue with some more facts about Seili and the surroundings.

The landscape: journey and coordinates

2011-01-03T20:45:00.010+01:00

VOL-AT-ILIT-Y welcomes everybody to follow us on this expedition. It will take us on a semiotic journey through crisscrossing domains which through regular updates will be made available as a 'memoria' of the development of the grid or the base for a dance piece. The first part of this expedition is taking place in a unique Finnish Archipelago, where winter has granted islands bonds to one another. The landscape is as white as it gets, life forms are scarcer, due to the migration of many species to warmer parts of the globe. The human triumph as well as its helplessness interact and shape themselves into one self-contained movement that heads back to itself. At this time of the year and in this part of the globe one can almost count steps. Sometimes we walk through deep virgin accumulated snow, sometimes on slippery ice, either way, we step carefully, mostly facing the ground, towards the unknown. Whiteness and few hours of sun light.

The journey started in Helsinki, where we landed and started the year anew. The destination for this first part of the expedition is the Island of Seili, so we took a bus from Helsinki to Nauvo, where we had to overnight to be able to take the boat to Seili early in the morning. Access to some of the islands get more and more complicated at this point, because the ice layer is either too think for a boat to get through, or too thin for one to able to drive or walk on it. We have stocked up some food and will be heading to Seili by boat in the morning.

Seili is a small island (about 2 km from north to south), off the main islands of Nauvo, in the Archipelago Sea, off the south west coast of Finland. The uses that were given to this island are despite disturbing, somewhat intriguing and certainly drew our attention. Själö in Swedish, or Soul/Ghost/Spirit/Mind/Psyche Island if translated to English, in the 17th century this island was used as a Leper colony. From 1785 until 1962 it served as a confinement for mentally afflicted women. So not to get carried away by speculative questions and hypothetical answers, currently the island hosts the Archipelago Research Institute that is a part of the University of Turku. The research is focused on the surrounding Archipelago Sea as well as the whole Baltic Sea. Our Research focuses on water, its thermodynamic features and its state regarding the substances that compose the water and ice samples these days and the life forms that thrive or rise in its current conditions.

http://www.seili.utu.fi/en/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Själö (not 100% accurate)
http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seili (a bit more accurate in Finnish)