Liquid
Liquid is a state of elements.
Mechanics
- A Liquid is any matter in game that is not a solid entity or gas entity. Almost any material in the game will melt given a high enough temperature.
- Liquids are affected by gravity and can flow across level floors, through open doors and down ladders.
- A Duplicant who finds themselves submerged with no way to rise above the level of the liquid will either drown after a set period without air or will burn to death in hot liquids.
- Liquids do not mix in tiles. Polluted Water in Water does not cause the clean water to become polluted, although germs may spread.
- Elements with a lower density tends to rise above others. Mixed Liquids with different density and in sufficient amounts will form several layers after a period of time if the liquids are "mixed" by moving them around.
- The density of liquids are taken to be equal to be equal to their molecular weight, an inaccurate assumption that causes some counterintuitive behavior like oil sinking in water.
- Liquids with heavier densities cannot be displaced by liquids with lighter densities. Therefore, liquids of differing densities that are side-by-side that cannot move (such as due to being underneath more liquid) will not displace each other unless either liquid is displaced, such as by pumping a Gas below them. Moreover, the construction of one tile wide Liquid Airlocks using bottled liquids requires the heavier liquid to be poured first.
- Liquids of the same densities will not displace each other. This allows the creation of arbitrarily high liquid stacks (useful for Pacu ranching) or Liquid Airlocks without needing the Max Mass of the liquid. Nectar
and Salt Water is a particularly useful combination of such liquids.
- Liquids exposed to space will be destroyed, unless protected by Drywall.
- Liquids can occupy two vertical tiles and touch the solid tile third above. Thus it is possible to make a Liquid Airlock.
- Like all tiles, liquids evaporate at 3 degrees above the specified vaporization point, and freeze at 3 degrees below the specified freezing point.
- If such transformation happens inside a Liquid Pipe, the pipe will be damaged.
- Phase change will not occur if the content of the pipe is 1kg or less.
- If a liquid is atop any tile with a temperature exceeding a phase change temperature, it will under go a phase change by Flaking. This includes tiles with virtually zero Thermal Conductivity, such as Abyssalite.
- Liquids cannot exist in amounts smaller than 10g, unless if it's in pipes. Such liquids will be immediately deleted from the world.
- This behavior causes liquids in quantities smaller than 40 grams to be easily partially deleted by tile creation, especially easily seen with Manual Airlocks and Mechanized Airlocks.
Default Mass
- All liquids have a default mass per tile. This is used during world generation.
- Above 35% of the default mass, the tile of liquid can flood Buildings and drown Critters.
- Freezing a liquid into a solid will form either Debris or a solid natural tile depending on the solid's default mass and will not take into account the liquid's default mass.
Max Mass
- All liquids have a certain max mass per tile; above this limit, the liquid will "flow" to the tile above it (provided it's not a solid tile), pushing away the air in the tile. If several such liquid tiles are "stacked" atop each other, pressure will build in the bottom tiles, adding approximately 1% of the above mass to each tile. This pressure can eventually cause damage to surrounding solid tiles.
Pressure Damage
Liquid tiles which accumulate too much mass (such as from depth stacking) will begin to visually crack the tiles containing them before causing pressure damage to the tile and seep through as droplets, until either the tile breaks entirely (losing all materials used to construct it and allowing the liquid to flow out), the pressure is released, or the tile is reinforced with more tiles. The mass at which a tile begins to take pressure damage is dependent upon the liquid's specific mass per tile (that is, the maximum amount of liquid that can be put in a tile without it overflowing), the tile's strength, the type of tile, and the thickness of the wall. Walls 3 tiles or thicker are immune to pressure damage entirely if there are no pipes running through them. In addition, certain tiles are immune to pressure damage under any circumstances. Some pressure-immune tiles and buildings are Airflow Tiles, Manual Airlocks, Mechanized Airlocks, Bunker Doors, and Solar Panels.
Pressure damage to Natural Tiles will cause only 50% of the mass to be dropped as Debris, the same ratio as if a Duplicant dug it.
The maximum mass a liquid tile can have before damaging its tank walls can be calculated using the following formula:
where is the thickness of the wall (either 1 or 2), is the strength of the material (located in the solid.yaml file) making up the wall, and is the "strength multiplier", found in the table below. It should be noted that while this formula should give the maximum pressure a wall can withstand before taking damage, in some cases there appears to be a rounding error of less than 1 kg. Therefore, it is best to ensure the tank will be dealing with pressures less than the maximum pressure, both to avoid potential rounding errors and as a matter of general caution.
| Tile Type | Strength Multiplier (k values) |
|---|---|
| Natural Tile | tile mass / maxMass (maxMass as defined in solid.yaml for the material) |
| Tile | 1.50 |
| Insulated Tile | 1.00 |
| Plastic Tile | 1.00 |
| Metal Tile | 1.00 |
| Window Tile | 1.00 |
| Bunker Tile | 10.00 |
| Carpeted Tile | 1.00 |
| Farm Tile | 1.00 |
| Hydroponic Farm | 1.00 |
| Transit Tube Crossing | 1.00 |
| Heavi-Watt Joint Plate | 1.00 |
| Heavi-Watt Conductive Joint Plate | 1.00 |
| Gantry | 0.02 |
| Material | Strength |
|---|---|
 Aluminum 
|
1.0 |
 Aluminum Ore
|
0.7 |
 Ceramic 
|
1.0 |
 Clay
|
0.2 |
 Copper 
|
0.8 |
 Copper Ore
|
0.7 |
 Diamond 
|
2.5 |
 Dirt 
|
0.2 |
 Fossil
|
0.2 |
 Glass 
|
1.0 |
 Gold 
|
0.7 |
 Gold Amalgam
|
0.8 |
 Granite
|
1.5 |
 Igneous Rock
|
1.0 |
 Iron 
|
1.0 |
 Iron Ore
|
0.9 |
 Isoresin
|
0.4 |
 Lead 
|
0.8 |
 Mafic Rock
|
1.0 |
 Niobium 
|
0.8 |
 Obsidian
|
1.0 |
 Plastic 
|
0.4 |
 Sandstone
|
0.5 |
 Sedimentary Rock
|
0.2 |
 Steel 
|
2.0 |
 Thermium 
|
0.8 |
Tungsten 
|
0.9 |
 Wolframite
|
0.8 |
In general, higher strength multipliers correspond to more pressure-resistant tiles. Of course, the base material strength also plays an important role in the maximum pressure a tile can withstand. Again, note that some pressures may be off by up to 0.1kg due to rounding, so exercise caution when approaching these limits.
List of Liquids
| Icon | Name | Freezing point | Freezes into | Vaporization point | Vaporizes into | SHC | TC | Light Absorption | Radiation Absorption | Density [g/mol] | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Brine    | -22.50 | Brine Ice  | 102.75 | Steam  70.00%Salt  30.00% | 3.4 | 0.609 | 25% | 80% | 22 | |
 | Liquid Chlorine   | -100.98 | Solid Chlorine  | -34.60 | Chlorine Gas | 0.48 | 0.0081 | 100% | 73% | 34.453 | |
 | Crude Oil   | -40.15 | Solid Crude Oil  | 399.85 | Petroleum   | 1.69 | 2 | 100% | 80% | 500 | |
 | Polluted Water  | -20.65 | Polluted Ice  | 119.35 | Steam 99.00%Dirt 1.00% | 4.179 | 0.58 | 70% | 80% | 20 | emits  Polluted Oxygen |
 | Liquid Carbon Dioxide   | -56.55 | Solid Carbon Dioxide  | -48.15 | Carbon Dioxide | 0.846 | 1.46 | 100% | 80% | 44.01 | |
 | Gunk    | -8.15 | Solid Gunk  | 447.85 | Petroleum 92.00%Sulfur  8.00% | 1.2 | 1.5 | 100% | 90% | 550 | Gunk is available in the Base Game, but only with debug/sandbox features |
 | Liquid Hydrogen   | -259.15 | Solid Hydrogen  | -252.15 | Hydrogen Gas | 2.4 | 0.1 | 100% | 90% | 1.00794 | |
 | Liquid Methane   | -182.60 | Solid Methane  | -161.50 | Natural Gas | 2.191 | 0.03 | 60% | 75% | 16.044 | |
 | Liquid Oxygen   | -218.79 | Solid Oxygen  | -182.96 | Oxygen | 1.01 | 2 | 100% | 82% | 15.9994 | |
 | Liquid Phosphorus   | 44.15 | Refined Phosphorus  | 280.45 | Phosphorus Gas | 0.7697 | 0.236 | 100% | 75% | 30.973762 | |
 | Liquid Sulfur  | 115.20 | Sulfur | 337.00 | Sulfur Gas | 0.7 | 0.2 | 10% | 74% | 32 | |
 | Brackene   | -16.50 | Frozen Brackene  | 80.00 | Brine 90.00%Brackwax 10.00% | 4.1 | 0.609 | 80% | 80% | 23 | |
 | Magma  | 1409.85 | Igneous Rock | 2356.85 | Rock Gas | 1 | 1 | 100% | 80% | 50 | |
 | Mercury   | -38.85 | Solid Mercury  | 356.75 | Mercury Gas | 0.14 | 8.3 | 100% | 25% | 200.59 | Mercury is available in the Base Game, but only with debug/sandbox features |
 | Molten Aluminum  | 660.30 | Aluminum | 2470.00 | Aluminum Gas | 0.91 | 20.5 | 100% | 77% | 55.845 | |
 | Liquid Carbon   | 3551.85 | Refined Carbon | 4826.85 | Carbon Gas | 0.71 | 2 | 100% | 84% | 12.0107 | |
 | Molten Copper  | 1083.85 | Copper | 2560.85 | Copper Gas | 0.386 | 12 | 100% | 61% | 63.546 | |
 | Molten Glass | 1126.85 | Glass | 2356.85 | Rock Gas | 0.2 | 1 | 70% | 65% | 50 | |
 | Molten Gold  | 1063.85 | Gold | 2855.85 | Gold Gas | 0.1291 | 6 | 100% | 35% | 196.966569 | |
 | Molten Iron  | 1534.85 | Iron | 2749.85 | Iron Gas | 0.449 | 4 | 100% | 66% | 55.845 | |
 | Molten Cobalt    | 1494.85 | Cobalt  | 2926.85 | Cobalt Gas | 0.42 | 4 | 100% | 63% | 58.9 | |
 | Molten Lead  | 327.50 | Lead | 1749.00 | Lead Gas | 0.128 | 11 | 100% | 85% | 196.966569 | |
 | Molten Niobium  | 2476.85 | Niobium | 4743.85 | Niobium Gas | 0.265 | 54 | 100% | 49% | 92.9 | |
 | Molten Salt  | 799.85 | Salt | 1464.85 | Salt Gas | 0.7 | 0.444 | 10% | 75% | 32 | |
 | Molten Steel  | 1083.85 | Steel | 3826.85 | Steel Gas | 0.386 | 80 | 100% | 74% | 63.546 | |
 | Molten Tungsten  | 3421.85 | Tungsten | 5929.85 | Tungsten Gas | 0.134 | 4 | 70% | 35% | 183.84 | |
 | Liquid Uranium  | 132.85 | Depleted Uranium  | 4131.85 | Rock Gas | 1.69 | 2 | 100% | 30% | 196.966569 | emits 165 rads/cycle per 1000kg mass |
 | Liquid Naphtha  | -50.15 | Solid Naphtha | 538.85 | Sour Gas | 2.191 | 0.2 | 80% | 60% | 102.2 | |
 | Liquid Nuclear Waste   | 26.85 | Solid Nuclear Waste  | 526.85 | Nuclear Fallout | 7.44 | 6 | 100% | 30% | 196.966569 | emits 165 rads/cycle per 1000kg mass |
 | Petroleum | -57.15 | Solid Petroleum | 538.85 | Sour Gas | 1.76 | 2 | 80% | 80% | 82.2 | |
 | Resin   | 20.00 | Solid Resin  | 125.00 | Steam 75.00%Refined Carbon 25.00% | 1.11 | 0.15 | 80% | 75% | 52.5 | |
 | Sap  | 20.00 | Solid Sap  | 125.00 | Steam 75.00%Isosap 25.00% | 1.11 | 0.15 | 80% | 75% | 52.5 | |
 | Salt Water  | -7.50 | Brine 23.00%Ice 77.00% | 99.69 | Steam 93.00%Salt 7.00% | 4.1 | 0.609 | 25% | 80% | 21 | |
 | Nectar  | -82.50 | Ice 23.00%Sucrose  77.00% | 160.00 | Steam 23.00%Sucrose 77.00% | 4.1 | 0.609 | 50% | 90% | 21 | Nectar is available in the Base Game, but only with debug/sandbox features |
 | Super Coolant   | -271.15 | Solid Super Coolant  | 436.85 | Super Coolant Gas | 8.44 | 9.46 | 90% | 60% | 250 | |
 | Visco-Gel Fluid  | -30.65 | Solid Visco-Gel  | 479.85 | Liquid Naphtha | 1.55 | 0.45 | 10% | 60% | 10 | |
 | Water | -0.65 | Ice | 99.35 | Steam | 4.179 | 0.609 | 25% | 80% | 18.01528 | |
 | Ethanol   | -114.05 | Solid Ethanol  | 78.35 | Ethanol Gas | 2.46 | 0.171 | 25% | 70% | 46.07 | |
 | Phyto Oil   | -33.15 | Frozen Phyto Oil  | 75.00 | Carbon Dioxide 33.34%Algae 66.66% | 0.9 | 2 | 30% | 90% | 450 | Phyto Oil is available in the Base Game, but only with debug/sandbox features |
 | Biodiesel  | -10.00 | Tallow  | 180.00 | Carbon Dioxide | 2.19 | 2 | 30% | 70% | 450 | |
 | Liquid Sucrose | 185.85 | Sucrose | 230.00 | Carbon Dioxide | 1.255 | 0.15 | 10% | 70% | 32 | |
 | Molten Nickel   | 1454.85 | Nickel  | 2729.85 | Nickel Gas | 0.44 | 30 | 100% | 70% | 58.69 | |
 | Molten Iridium   | 2445.85 | Iridium  | 4129.85 | Iridium Gas | 0.131 | 170 | 100% | 88% | 183.84 |
Trivia
- Although Oxygen Not Included simulates liquid density using molecular mass, in real life, the density of liquids has little relationship to its molecular mass. This is because liquids have very different molar volumes (the amount of volume a given number of molecules take up). For example, although crude oil has the highest molecular mass in-game, its real-life density is often less than that of water and would float on water because crude oil molecules are extremely large compared to water molecules.
