What non toxic substance/chemical/liquid has a lower viscosity than
water and has a similar freezing point?

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Clarification of Question by muggy-ga on 27 Apr 2006 04:03 PDT

I want to speed up the process of frost shattering in a sedimentary
rock.   Therefore the liquid has to penetrate the rock, I will then
freeze the rock.   The operating temperatures would ideally be less
than 40c for the liquid to penetrate the rock and no lower than ?20c
for the freezing.

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Clarification of Question by muggy-ga on 28 Apr 2006 02:02 PDT

Thanks for you repsonses guys.   I need to be able to sepatrate the
rock between a small range of strata, frost shattering is the only way
I think it can be done.

You'll need to specify the spectrum of temperatures at which you want
the unknown material to have this viscosity. (Similar freezing points
may not equal similar viscosities at all temperature.)

What are you trying to acheive by lowering the viscosity?

If you're trying to reduce the drag on an object traveling through it,
you may consider changing your surface conditions instead.  Is your
flow laminar to begin with?  If so, you may be able to alter your
surface in such a way that the flow becomes turbulent, or increase the
flow velocity past the turbulence threshhold.

Properly placed pockets or 'divots' on the top layer of a flow surface
can greatly reduce the speed necessary to acheive turbulent flow,
which will lower your drag coefficient by a factor of about 0.5!  This
more than makes up for having a more viscous fluid

On the other hand, if you absolutely can't change anything but the
fluid you're using, you could try one of a few things.  Highly
oxidized water may do the trick, if you just need to lighten that
density up a bit.  Maybe passing it through an aerator (sp?)...
Please clarify  :-)

How about sticking to water and increasing the pressure ?

This sounds to me like 'fossil cracking'

Water is somewhat unique in that it expands upon freezing.

ethanol?

There is no real alternative to water in terms of freezing point,
non-toxicity, and the fact that it expands of freezing, which is what
makes the force that splits the rock. To penetrate fine cracks is what
I think you need. Lower viscosity will not necessarily do this, but
lower surface tension will. I suggest that you might get good results
by adding small amounts of a wetting agent like triton X-100, or maybe
even dishwashing detergent to water.

Sorry, muggy, only water will do. It is the ONLY liquid that expands
on freezing and therefore the only liquid capable of causing frost
shattering.
It is easy to think that the properties of water are ordinary because
water is so common on our planet, but water is arguably the strangest
substance you can get.