Tuesday 16 September 2014

I Have To Admit,

I do like the Terminator films,


particularly the character of the liquid metal robot that can duplicate shapes of people,

well it appears that the T-1000 from Terminator 2 film is a step nearer to becoming a reality, a small step I should say as Chemists at North Carolina State University have observed that when they apply an electric charge to a gallium alloy (which is naturally liquid at room temperature) in water, they are able to manipulate its shape, after three years of studying the unusual reaction they figured out how it works: an oxide coating on the surface forms when the voltage is applied, then disappears without a trace when the voltage is removed, this coating changes the surface tension of the metal where it meets the water,


"Scientifically this is one of the most exciting projects I've ever worked on because nothing in the literature explained it," Dr. Michael Dickey, an investigator on the study, but there is a slight problem at this stage, the gallium alloy this effect is only possible on very small scales, once too much mass gets involved, says Dr. Dickey, "gravity takes over" and the whole system collapses, oh well back to the drawing board.


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