Floating Water Bridge

By Queuebot in Science & Tech on Apr 25, 2009 at 1:04 pm


[YouTube - Link]


The floating water bridge is a weird phenomenon discovered by Elmar Fuchs and colleagues from the Graz University of Technology in Austria, in which, with the help of electricity, water can actually create a floating bridge as long as 25 millimeters.

From PhysOrg:

When exposed to a high-voltage electric field, water in two beakers
climbs out of the beakers and crosses empty space to meet, forming the
water bridge. The liquid bridge, hovering in space, appears to the
human eye to defy gravity.

Upon investigating the phenomenon, the scientists found that water
was being transported from one beaker to another, usually from the
anode beaker to the cathode beaker. The cylindrical water bridge, with
a diameter of 1-3 mm, could remain intact when the beakers were pulled
apart at a distance of up to 25 mm.

Why water would act this way was a surprise, Fuchs told PhysOrg.com.
But the group’s analyses have shown that the explanation may lie within
the nature of the water’s structure. Initially, the bridge forms due to
electrostatic charges on the surface of the water. The electric field
then concentrates inside the water, arranging the water molecules to
form a highly ordered microstructure. This microstructure remains
stable, keeping the bridge intact.

– via cracked

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by pax.


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  1. gtron
    Apr 25th, 2009 at 3:47 pm

    “Why water would act this way was a surprise”
    I live in the North Atlantic sea, in Newfoundland, and I have had the opportunity over the past few years to work on a film/art/new media project (in development) which demands that the characters, especially mine, spend a lot of time on the very edge of the sea – often on rocky over hangs and rough ledges during moderately high seas (just so you know, I wouldn’t go out if it weren’t safe-ish, but it’s not really nasty – you gotta have some crashing waves to get a good shot). anyway, there have been numerous times wherein I ‘felt’ the presence of the sea having more than a passive inorganic existence. I ‘felt’ like it was interested in getting me, I anticipated it’s ‘motives’ to change its swelling and lashing out, and as I avoided getting pulled in while getting close to the edge, I felt it swelling up on the other side of me – it wasn’t random waves, I was ‘being pursued’ – and around here, several people a year go a little too close, and wash up about 3 weeks later… and I am neither a kook nor do I believe that I’ve been abducted by aliens. Water is alive, just on a different conceptual level than we grasp. I believe its pissed at us humans – as we are constantly attacking it. What about that Texas-sized island of plastic in the middle of the Pacific?!
    oh, and for the record, we’re missing a huge opportunity in not harvesting the glacier ice floating by here as the pole melts. Free 10000 year old pristine water, melting into the Gulf stream. Mmm – I’m goig to go get some and toss it in my drink.

  2. Video Game Dork
    Apr 26th, 2009 at 12:09 am

    Water is an amazing substance. Its one of the few things that is less dense as a solid than as a liquid (which, in the physics world, is pretty cool). and it bonds with almost anything (which is why it’s so good at cleaning things).

    However, if you think water may be angry at you… well… I just don’t know what to say about that. :P

  3. N. Tesla
    Apr 26th, 2009 at 6:27 pm

    … Why is this nfkecu surprising?

    Are we that technically and scientifically challenged.

    This is pure base, as in basic and fundamental.

    Duh!

    P.s. – We are pushing (U.S.A.) the’illiterate’.

  4. Alex
    Apr 27th, 2009 at 12:09 am

    Phenomenon. I knew that. Fixed now, thanks!

  5. GQ
    Apr 27th, 2009 at 5:36 am

    Any practical applications for this?

  6. gtron
    Apr 27th, 2009 at 3:07 pm

    not angry at me, per se, and not angry, as such.
    you have to sort of loosen your rational thinking

  7. bigM
    Oct 24th, 2009 at 1:14 am

    applications– maybe a new method of water purification? At least in terms of heavy impurities. It could reduce filter reliance, and maybe simplify chemical separation techniques generally.

    gtron- it appears you are hydrophobic. nyuk nyuk

  8. bigM
    Oct 24th, 2009 at 1:21 am

    P.S.- Hey Video Game Dork, though it might interest you to know, as I discovered by accident in the lab today, solid phase cyclohexane is also less dense than liquid phase cyclohexane. Its crystals floated as I thawed a large sample. I would guess that other similar cyclic compounds might behave similarly (e.g.- cylcopentane, cycloheptane…).

    gtron- still lol.


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