Quote(https://i.imgur.com/CKLSjd2.jpg)
Electrons from a droplet of sodium and potassium diffuse onto a thin layer of water, turning it golden and giving it metallic properties.
Image Credit: Philip E. Mason
As the article implies, alchemists would be impressed. Practical applications of this remain to be seen. Meanwhile some knowledge is gained.
"Water transformed into shiny, golden metal" |
Nature (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02065-w)
QuoteIf you can't turn water into gold like a good alchemist would, the next best thing might be to transform water itself into a shiny, metallic material. Researchers have achieved that feat by forming a thin layer of water around electron-sharing alkali metals.
The water stayed in a metallic state for a only few seconds, but the experiment did not require the high pressures that are normally needed to turn non-metallic materials into electrically conductive metals.
Co-author Pavel Jungwirth, a physical chemist at the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague, says that seeing the water take on a golden shine was a highlight of his career. The team published its findings on 28 July in Nature.
[Continues . . . (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02065-w)]
There's a nice GIF of the experiment at the link.
This is how you get terminators. Especially the T-1000 variety.