Reed water tube boiler straight tubes through which water and steam circulated more freely, it was considered by some contemporary writers on the subject such as Leslie S. Robertson as "behind" in its circulation because of the absence of down-comers. Whereas the Yarrow boilers fitted to the armoured cruiser of 1905 evaporated 11.664 pounds (5.291 kg) of water per pound (454 g) of coal at 100 degrees centigrade (212 degrees Fahrenheit) with natural draught, by the same measure a Reed boiler as fitted to the torpedo boat destroyer of 1896 evaporated 12 pounds (5.44 kg). An advantage of the Yarrow boiler was in weight:
Hypothetical types of biochemistry too unstable at Earth temperatures to be useful. Ammonia could be a liquid at Earth-like temperatures, but at much higher pressures; for example, at 60 atm, ammonia melts at −77 °C (196 K) and boils at 98 °C (371 K). Ammonia and ammonia–water mixtures remain liquid at temperatures far below the freezing point of pure water, so such biochemistries might be well suited to planets and moons orbiting outside the water-based habitability zone. Such conditions could exist, for example, under the surface of Saturn's largest moon Titan. Methane (CH) is a simple hydrocarbon: that is, a compound of two of