In Remarkable Experiment, Scientists Create a Golden Drop of Metallic Water - SciTechDaily

By IOCB Prague.

On the left is a pure drop of sodium-potassium alloy, on the right is the drop with a layer of water, in which electrons liberated from the metal dissolved, giving it a golden metallic sheen.

However, an international team of researchers headed by Pavel Jungwirth of IOCB Prague has developed a new method with which they succeeded in making metallic water under terrestrial conditions that lasted for several seconds.

The drop of sodium-potassium alloy exposed to the action of the water vapor at 10-4 mbar.

A layer of water forms on the drop, in which electrons liberated from the metal dissolve, giving it a golden metallic sheen.

In principle, it should be possible to compress water molecules to the point that their electron shells begin to overlap and form a so-called conduction band similar to the one in metallic materials.

Inspired by work with alkali metal-liquid ammonia solutions, which at high concentrations behave like a metal, the researchers decided to attempt creation of a conduction band not by compressing water molecules but rather by way of massive dissolution of the electrons released from the alkali metal.

The first image shows a pure drop of sodium-potassium alloy; in the next images, we see the drop exposed to the action of the water vapor at 10-4 mbar.

A layer of water forms on the drop, in which electrons liberated from the metal dissolve, giving it a golden metallic sheen.

As is well known, when you throw a chunk of sodium in water, you don’t get metallic water but an immediate and substantial explosion that takes out your apparatus,” says Jungwirth, who heads a group at IOCB Prague specializing in molecular modeling.

Inside a vacuum chamber, the researchers exposed a drop of sodium-potassium alloy to a small amount of water vapor, which began to condense on its surface.

The electrons liberated from the alkali metal dissolved in the layer of water on the surface faster than the chemical reaction that results in the explosion.

There were a sufficient number of them to overcome the critical limit for the formation of a conduction band and thus give rise to a metallic water solution, which in addition to the electrons also contained dissolved alkali cations and chemically formed hydroxide and hydrogen.

“Thanks to this, we were able to create a thin layer of gold-colored metallic water solution that lasted for several seconds, and that was enough for us to not only see it with our own eyes but also measure it with spectrometers,” says Jungwirth, adding: “We more or less jury-rigged the necessary apparatus in a small lab at our institute in Prague, which is also where the fist experiments took place.

The drop of sodium-potassium alloy exposed to the action of the water vapor at 10-4 mbar.

A layer of water formed on the drop, in which electrons liberated from the metal dissolved, giving it a golden metallic sheen.

The study of the researchers at IOCB Prague and their colleagues not only shows that metallic water can be prepared under terrestrial conditions, but it also provides a detailed characterization of the spectroscopic properties connected to its beautiful golden metallic sheen.

Credit: Tomas Bellon / IOCB Prague.