Bizarre fourth state of water discovered
Date: Tuesday, June 28, 2016 @ 10:49:16 GMT
Topic: Science
From Gizmag/Science: Bizarre fourth state of water discovered
A sample of beryl and an illustration that shows the strange shape water molecules take when found in the mineral's cage-like channels (Credit: ORNL/Jeff Scovil)
You already know that water can have three states of matter: solid, liquid and gas. But scientists at the Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) have discovered that when it's put under extreme pressure in small spaces, the life-giving liquid can exhibit a strange fourth state known as tunneling.
The water under question was found in super-small six-sided channels in the mineral beryl, which forms the basis for the gems aquamarine and emerald. The channels measure only about five atoms across and function basically as cages that can each trap one water molecule. What the researchers found was that in this incredibly tight space, the water molecule exhibited a characteristic usually only seen at the much smaller quantum level, called tunneling...
Full article: http://www.gizmag.com/fourth-state-of-water/42999/?li_source=LI&li_medium=default-widget
|
|