Fluidised Bed

Fluidised beds are not solids lubricated by water, they are solids suspended
in a gas with enough energy that the individual crystals behave like a fluid
(gas or liquid) this can be used to dry powders btw.

Roger Books wrote in reply to me:

> > (Under some very special conditions you might get a "fluid bed"-like

> Isn't this what quick-sand is? You end up with particles of sand

to which Richard Kirke replied:

> Fluidised beds are not solids lubricated by water, they are solids

Exactly (thanks for providing the English term, BTW!). A gas with enough

energy, like eg. the air blown downwards by the lifting fans of a GEV. The
solid rock below the dust needs to have a pretty strange shape in order to
shape the gas flows such that you get the fluidising effect, but it is
theoretically possible for it to occur. (Ie., it is theoretically possible to
design a fluidised bed which is blown from above... not very efficient,
of course :-/ )

Later,