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Scientists discover 'new state' of matter in which atoms can exist as both solid AND liquid at the same time
8 April 2019 | https://www.dailymail.co.uk/science...d-liquid-new-state-discovered-scientists.html
The research is said to clear up whether there was a distinct state of matter or the atom structures represented a transition between two stages – whether solid, liquid or gas.
Tests were carried out on the 'simple metal', such as applying high pressures and temperatures, with powerful computer simulations used to study what was known as the chain-melted state.
Scientists examining potassium have discovered a new state of physical matter where atoms can exist as solid and liquid at the same time. The research clears up whether there was a distinct state of matter or the atom structures represented a transition. Artist's impression
Experts from the University of Edinburgh believe more than half a dozen other elements – including sodium and bismuth – are capable of existing in this new state.
It was previously unclear if this structure represented its own distinct state of matter.
By simulating the behavior of roughly 20,000 potassium atoms under extreme conditions, the researchers say they’ve confirmed a new, stable state of matter.
Dr Andreas Hermann, of the university's School of Physics and Astronomy, led the study which is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
He said: '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 par liquid.
'Recreating this unusual state in other materials could have all kinds of applications.'
According to the team, the extreme conditions led to the formation of two interlinked solid lattice structures in the atoms.
These strong chemical interactions allowed the atoms to stay in solid form when heated.
The other atoms melted into a liquid state.
The study was supported by the European Research Council and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and the work was carried out in collaboration with scientists from Xi'an Jiantong University in China.
HOW WAS THE PERIODIC TABLE CREATED?
Chemists have always looked for ways of arranging the elements to reflect the similarities between their properties.
The modern periodic table lists the elements in order of increasing atomic number - the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom.
Historically, however, relative atomic masses were used by scientists trying to organise the elements.
This was mainly because the idea of atoms being made up of smaller sub-atomic particles - protons, neutrons and electrons - had not been developed.
Nevertheless, the basis of the modern periodic table was well established and even used to predict the properties of undiscovered elements long before the concept of the atomic number was developed.
Ask most chemists who discovered the periodic table and you will almost certainly get the answer Dmitri Mendeleev.
The Russian scientist was the first to publish a version of the table that we would recognise today, in 1869, but does he deserve all the credit?
A number of other chemists before Mendeleev were investigating patterns in the properties of the elements that were known at the time.
The earliest attempt to classify the elements was in 1789, when Antoine Lavoisier grouped the elements based on their properties into gases, non-metals, metals and earths.
Several other attempts were made to group elements together over the coming decades.
In 1829, Johann Döbereiner recognised triads of elements with chemically similar properties, such as lithium, sodium and potassium, and showed that the properties of the middle element could be predicted from the properties of the other two.
It was not until a more accurate list of the atomic mass of the elements became available at a conference in Karlsruhe, Germany in 1860 that real progress was made towards the discovery of the modern periodic table.
This area of the website celebrates the work of many famous scientists whose quest to learn more about the world we live in and the atoms that make up the things around us led to the periodic table as we know it today.
Source: The Royal Society of Chemistry
8 April 2019 | https://www.dailymail.co.uk/science...d-liquid-new-state-discovered-scientists.html
- Researchers applied high pressures and temperatures to potassium atoms
- They simulating behavior of 20,000 potassium atoms under extreme conditions
- The researchers say in doing this they’ve confirmed a new, stable state of matter
The research is said to clear up whether there was a distinct state of matter or the atom structures represented a transition between two stages – whether solid, liquid or gas.
Tests were carried out on the 'simple metal', such as applying high pressures and temperatures, with powerful computer simulations used to study what was known as the chain-melted state.
Scientists examining potassium have discovered a new state of physical matter where atoms can exist as solid and liquid at the same time. The research clears up whether there was a distinct state of matter or the atom structures represented a transition. Artist's impression
Experts from the University of Edinburgh believe more than half a dozen other elements – including sodium and bismuth – are capable of existing in this new state.
It was previously unclear if this structure represented its own distinct state of matter.
By simulating the behavior of roughly 20,000 potassium atoms under extreme conditions, the researchers say they’ve confirmed a new, stable state of matter.
Dr Andreas Hermann, of the university's School of Physics and Astronomy, led the study which is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
He said: '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 par liquid.
'Recreating this unusual state in other materials could have all kinds of applications.'
According to the team, the extreme conditions led to the formation of two interlinked solid lattice structures in the atoms.
These strong chemical interactions allowed the atoms to stay in solid form when heated.
The other atoms melted into a liquid state.
The study was supported by the European Research Council and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and the work was carried out in collaboration with scientists from Xi'an Jiantong University in China.
HOW WAS THE PERIODIC TABLE CREATED?
Chemists have always looked for ways of arranging the elements to reflect the similarities between their properties.
The modern periodic table lists the elements in order of increasing atomic number - the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom.
Historically, however, relative atomic masses were used by scientists trying to organise the elements.
This was mainly because the idea of atoms being made up of smaller sub-atomic particles - protons, neutrons and electrons - had not been developed.
Nevertheless, the basis of the modern periodic table was well established and even used to predict the properties of undiscovered elements long before the concept of the atomic number was developed.
Ask most chemists who discovered the periodic table and you will almost certainly get the answer Dmitri Mendeleev.
The Russian scientist was the first to publish a version of the table that we would recognise today, in 1869, but does he deserve all the credit?
A number of other chemists before Mendeleev were investigating patterns in the properties of the elements that were known at the time.
The earliest attempt to classify the elements was in 1789, when Antoine Lavoisier grouped the elements based on their properties into gases, non-metals, metals and earths.
Several other attempts were made to group elements together over the coming decades.
In 1829, Johann Döbereiner recognised triads of elements with chemically similar properties, such as lithium, sodium and potassium, and showed that the properties of the middle element could be predicted from the properties of the other two.
It was not until a more accurate list of the atomic mass of the elements became available at a conference in Karlsruhe, Germany in 1860 that real progress was made towards the discovery of the modern periodic table.
This area of the website celebrates the work of many famous scientists whose quest to learn more about the world we live in and the atoms that make up the things around us led to the periodic table as we know it today.
Source: The Royal Society of Chemistry
