Abstract
The solubility of water in cryogenic liquids, such as liquid nitrogen (LIN), liquid oxygen (LOX) and liquid methane, would be expected to be extremely low and undetectable according to normal theories of solution1, 2. Following indications by unstable surface evaporation phenomena, recent work at Southampton University using gravimetric methods suggested that the solubility of water in liquid nitrogen may be as high as 10 ppm or 10-5 mole fraction3. This figure is many orders of magnitude greater than that expected which is 10–16 to 10-18 mole fraction3, 4. In this paper, experiments using Fourier transform, infra-red absorption sepctroscopy are described which confirm the extraordinary solubility of water in liquid nitrogen, oxygen and methane, and eliminate the possibility of experimental artifacts by making parallel observations on solutions of heavy water D2O in liquid nitrogen. This discovery has a bearing on many handling and storage situations in the cryogenic engineering industry and in low temperature laboratories.
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