The researchers achieved this by forming a thin layer of water around alkali metals with shared electrons.
A group of scientists led by Pavel Jungvirt from the Czech Academy of Sciences managed to turn water into a metal. Nature report.
Most materials are capable of becoming metallic if subjected to a sufficient pressure of 48 megabars. Atoms or molecules can be held together so tightly that they begin to share their outer electrons, which can travel and conduct electricity.
However, the researchers tried another way to turn pure water into a metal – to saturate it with electrons from another substance. For example, the alkali metals. However, the contact of such a metal with water generates an explosive reaction.
So, a group of scientists in a vacuum chamber squeezed a drop from an alloy of sodium and potassium, after which a water film was applied to it by vapor deposition. The electrons from the drop then quickly diffuse into the water along with the positive metal ions, and after a few seconds the water layer turns golden.
Scientists have previously reported that swarms of insects can produce electrical charges in the atmosphere.
Extraterrestrial water has been found in a meteorite for the first time
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Source: korrespondent
