Flexible ice invented in China
Scientists from Zhejiang University in China have grown ice in a laboratory that is able to bend and then return to its original shape. It is the most flexible form of ice known, Science reports.
Water ice is known to be hard and brittle. When you try to bend it, it just breaks. But one long ice crystal can be much more flexible.
Scientists have used this property to create flexible water ice. They piped steam into a small chamber cooled to -50 degrees Celsius. The electric field in the chamber attracted water molecules to the tungsten needle, where they crystallized, forming fibers several micrometers in diameter.
The researchers then cooled the ice to temperatures between -70 ° C and -150 ° C and measured the elastic deformation of the fibers. It turned out that the fibers they created are much more elastic than other structures of water ice. Some of them bent almost about the state of a circle, and then returned to their previous shape.
For other forms of ice, the elastic deformation index was no more than 0.3%, and during the new experiment it was possible to achieve 10.9%. The theoretically calculated elastic limit for water ice is from 14 to 16.2%.
The scientists also found that stress on the bent portion of the fiber caused the ice to transform into a new shape. They noted that the new data will help them better investigate the microphysics of ice.
Earlier it was reported that there are currently 18 known forms of ice. Austrian physicists have recently been able to discover its 19th form.
