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An experiment suggested by a Ph.D. student may rewrite chemistry textbooks:
The project looked at a fundamental question: Which properties are inherent to a metal and which are incidental?
[...] The scientists cooled ammonia—normally a gas at room temperature—to minus 33 C to liquify it and then added, in separate experiments, the alkali metals lithium, sodium and potassium.
In these solutions, electrons from the alkali metal initially become trapped in the gaps between ammonia molecules. This creates what scientists call 'solvated electrons,' which are highly reactive but stabilized in the ammonia. These solutions have a characteristic blue color. But given enough solvated electrons, the whole liquid turns bronze and, in essence, becomes a metal while remaining liquid.
[...] The scientists next measured the amount of energy needed to bump the solvated electrons out of metallic ammonia using an extremely bright and focused X-ray beam based in Berlin.
In a first-ever experiment, they forced different concentrations of the metallic ammonia through a microjet, which created a stream about the width of a human hair that then passed through a hair-thin X-ray beam.
The results showed that, at low concentrations, solvated electrons were more easily dislodged from the solution by the interaction with the X-rays, giving a simple energy pattern. At higher concentrations, though, the energy pattern suddenly developed a sharp band edge, indicating the solution was behaving as a metal would.
Journal Reference:
Tillmann Buttersack, Philip E. Mason, Ryan S. McMullen, et al. Photoelectron spectra of alkali metal–ammonia microjets: From blue electrolyte to bronze metal [$], Science (DOI: 10.1126/science.aaz7607)
(Score: 4, Funny) by hemocyanin on Thursday June 25 2020, @06:07AM (6 children)
Well, they'd probably use less energy if they weren't shooting all the way from Berlin. Impressive aim though.
(Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Thursday June 25 2020, @06:25AM (3 children)
What? You afraid they'll turn your blood to a bronze color all the way from Berlin?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Funny) by MostCynical on Thursday June 25 2020, @06:40AM (2 children)
no, afraid of being shot by a laser from the moon..
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2020, @06:59AM (1 child)
(google his nick to get the blood color change reference)
(Score: 3, Informative) by MostCynical on Thursday June 25 2020, @08:45AM
my fear, not Mr Blue blood's [newworldencyclopedia.org]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by driverless on Thursday June 25 2020, @12:31PM (1 child)
No, they made the electrons dance in Berlin. They even wrote a song about it I think.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday June 25 2020, @10:22PM
Oh yes, this one? [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2020, @06:30AM (2 children)
Tillmann Buttersack, Philip E. Mason, Ryan S. McMullen, et al. would disagree with that.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday June 25 2020, @06:54AM
At the very least Philip E. Mason will strongly disagree. Here's his YouTube channel [youtube.com] (921K subscribers).
His older video on solvated electrons (about 3 years ago) [youtube.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2020, @02:31PM
> Tillmann Buttersack
Hey! He stole my porn name.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2020, @06:34AM
Chemistry is a cookbook. It's all memorization.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2020, @06:47AM (2 children)
So... in what way would it rewrite chemistry text books? What know knowledge would be invalidated? To me it seems more to supplement knowledge. At least, that's what I get from the summary.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Thursday June 25 2020, @12:34PM (1 child)
If you expose certain materials to unrealistically exotic conditions then they behave in odd ways, which isn't really going to cause any chemistry books to be rewritten, in the same way that Newton's Laws aren't going to be erased by Einstein's later updates. Another example of this is that technically X-rays are a solid, although the conditions under which that occurs are also pretty exotic.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2020, @01:18PM
That raysist.
Freedom for all electrons!
(Score: 2) by stretch611 on Thursday June 25 2020, @09:31AM (6 children)
The Terminator movies are coming true. After all, this liquid metal can become the basis of the entire T-1000 line of killer robots.
Sarah Connor did not prevent the ugly future from happening... she merely delayed it.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Thursday June 25 2020, @10:31AM (5 children)
Knowing the propensity of sodium and potassium to throw quite a serious tantrum when in contact with water, I reckon the defense against that T-1000 line is simply just to piss on them - their electrons will turn golden for a nanosecond... maybe.
Longer than that and you don't want to be near them for a short while, hydrogen explosions is not something to experience at close quarters (if you want to tell the story after).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday June 25 2020, @03:41PM (1 child)
Wouldn't be the first guy to die from peeing on something.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday June 25 2020, @04:07PM
That will teach them to piss at low pressure/small distance and for long enough time, yes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday June 25 2020, @09:42PM (1 child)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday June 25 2020, @11:18PM
May be true**, but in human perception/reaction time scale, the time from the first water contact 'til the final pop is as good as instantaneous. So, better piss on an alkali alloy T-1000 from a safe distance.
** the evolution of those tendrils, may not happen outside the narrow range of low temperature + saturating vapors of ammonia. The reaction of alkali with water is highly exothermic, to the point in which I suspect a chaotically oscillating boundary layer of water vapors+ hydrogen forms at the contact between the alkali and water (fast reaction => heat + the vapours layer => reaction starved of water and slowing => dissipation of the gaseous layer and back where we started but at a higher temperature; all at a max speed of the speed of sound in water).
Now, the heat developed by the reaction would surely melt away any tendrils so fast that I don't think they will have time to actually form. This said, there may be a mechanism involved in increasing the reaction area - the temperature and the variations in pressure are likely to cause expulsion of alkaly droplets from the metal surface into the water. Something similar with burning phosphorus in air [youtu.be].
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by arslan on Friday June 26 2020, @05:45AM
Uhh... I'm not so sure putting my exposed member near a killer liquid robot that can project blades is such a good idea.. blades that can slice through steel. Did I mention blades?
(Score: 5, Funny) by looorg on Thursday June 25 2020, @11:30AM
I like these kind of news (the once that say that some subjects have to be more or less rewritten due to new findings). It just makes the matter of me forgetting almost all the chemistry and physics I was ever taught so much less of an issue.