ORIGINAL: Pglasgow
OK. I can't stand it any longer. I'm going to try to ignite the floating powder. I'll be back . . .
It sank as I carried it to the garage. The powder easily dissolved by agitating. The graphite continued to float on the surface in a shiny film. Don't know if that gives you any answers.
Dang, I thought I'd already posted some other remarks. I deleted them
. Here goes . . .
After an hour and a half a good portion of powder still floated but the water appeared to have made its way under the graphite. So the powder corns look as though they were wet (kind of a plumpness)but no water could actually be seen because of the graphite on its its surface. I wondered whether any portion of the powder could be ignited.
As far as why the powder floated? Surface tension, the powder is itself heavier than water, I think. Because of the graphite, the water couldn't get to the powder to wet (adhere to)it, which would have allowed the powder to pierce the surface tension. The stuff on the surface is definitely not charcoal, its graphite. Dark shiny grey, definitely graphite riding in the surface film of the water. So much it wasn't possible to peer through it to observe the powder beneath the surface.