Eddie Gonzales Jr. – MessageToEagle.com – Until now, it was thought that atoms in physical material exist in one of three states – solid, liquid or gaseous.
However, scientists have now discovered that some elements under extreme conditions can assume solid and liquid state properties simultaneously.
The team from the University of Edinburgh has now made a series of computer simulations to get a better look at the so-called ‘chain-melted state’.
Simulating how up to 20,000 potassium atoms behave under extreme conditions revealed that the structures formed represent the new, stable state of matter.
Applying high pressures and temperatures to potassium – a simple metal – creates a state in which most of the element’s atoms form a solid lattice structure, the findings show.
Chemical interactions between atoms in one lattice are strong; they stay in a solid form when the structure is heated, while the other atoms melt into a liquid state.
However, the structure also contains a second set of potassium atoms that are in a fluid arrangement.
Under the right conditions, over half a dozen elements – including sodium and bismuth – are thought to be capable of existing in the newly discovered state, researchers say.
The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Potassium is one of the simplest metals we know, yet if you squeeze it, it forms very complicated structures. We have shown that this unusual but stable state is part solid and part liquid. Recreating this unusual state in other materials could have all kinds of applications.
Written by Eddie Gonzales Jr. – MessageToEagle.com Staff Writer