Any fluids are not solid, glass is thought of as a solid, but actually it is a liquid, it has a very high viscosity which means it appears to be a solid.

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Actually, the water in the air is a vapor (gas) and mercury, at room temperature, is a liquid.

Matter can exist in three stages: solid, liquid, and gas (acutally there are two more: plasma and Bose-Einstein condensate, which occur at high and low temperatures, respectively).  Of these liquid, gas, and plasma are fluids.

Most materials can exist at all of these states (and all element can exist at these states).  Water can be ice, liquid water, and vapor.

Water droplets that form clouds are small drops of liquid water.  So yes, a pitot tube can have liquid in it when flying through clouds.  (In fact, pitot tubes can be used under water to measure liquid water flows.  Cessnas however do not like to be flown under water).

Metals can be liquid or gasous.  Hydrogen, for example, is a metal, although it is gasous at room temperature.  Mercury is a metal which is liquid at room temperature.  Both hydrogen and mercury are fluid at room temperature.  Iron can be heated up and melted in to a liquid, then heated more and boiled in to a gas (though I challenge you to find a material to use as a container to hold it).

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Correct, but it won't deform under its own weight at room temperature, and at room temperature glass can not be made to "flow".  If you apply enough shear to it to cause it to flow it will crack.  The non-crystaline structure of glass is indeed more like a liquid then a solid, but it will not behave as a liquid in the traditional sense (it will not flow).  In this case glass is an example of a liquid which is not a fluid.  Confused yet?

BTW, stories of old window panes of glass which have shown evidence of "flow" over time are misinterpretations.  The glass did not flow at all.  Old techniques of glass used to produce a very rippled pane which varied in thickness.  The person who installed the glass would install them thick side down (it's more stable that way).  There are however instances of people making mistakes when installing panes and installing them thick side up.  Despite this "evidence" it should not be assumed that glass can be made to flow upwards.  The glass in fact did not flow at all and the phenomena is simply a result of old glass making and installation techniques.

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Chris,

Good to see someone who knows their science.   You are dead on correct about glass....... and everthing else you've said.  ( I teach ceramic chemistry and kiln design at the college level..... so kind of a "tech weenie" also.   )

I find it sort of "fun" that Si is the basis for both my profession.... and my hobby  .

And ggggeeeeeeezzzzzzeeeeeeeee.... are we ever getting way off the topic of flight simming.

best,

...................john

I have to admit that everytime I come here I learn something new, or at the least get my memory jogged a bit.
This did turn into a interesting and informative topic!

And I agree if icing can be done on one flight sim model why hasn't it been incorporated on others? Or is it just that not many really care about that aspect of flying? Which they should it is something that can be incountered at anytime of year in any kind of weather! and I don't have any stats but I would guess is probably the most common incident that happens while flying, besides turbulance.

I have not looked very close at the Bill Lyon's Apache, but I would think maybe it is a panel gauge of somekind that react to when there is icing present in the clouds.  Once the pitot heat is turned on the ice goes away.

Perhaps someone in the aircraft development forum might know something about how this can be done.