Liquid Glass Discovered As New State of Matter (newatlas.com) 42
An anonymous reader quotes a report from New Atlas: Mundane as it may seem, glass is a surprisingly mysterious material. Now scientists at the University of Konstanz have identified a new state of matter called liquid glass, which has some unusual properties. [...] In the new study, the researchers discovered a form of glass where the atoms exhibit a complex behavior that's never been seen in bulk glass before. Essentially, the atoms can move but aren't able to rotate. The team made this discovery in a model system of colloidal suspensions. These mixtures are made up of large solid particles suspended in a fluid, making it easier for scientists to observe the physical behavior of atoms or molecules. Normally these particles are spheres, but for this experiment the team used elliptical ones so they could tell which direction they were pointing.
The researchers tested different concentrations of particles in the fluid, tracking how well they could move and rotate. Eventually they found that at higher concentrations, the particles blocked each other from rotating, but they could still move, forming a liquid glass state. "At certain particle densities orientational motion froze whereas translational motion persisted, resulting in glassy states where the particles clustered to form local structures with similar orientation," says Andreas Zumbusch, lead author of the study. The team says that the observed behavior comes from two competing glass transitions interacting with each other. Liquid glass has been predicted for decades, and the new observation suggests that similar processes could be at work in other glass-forming systems. The research was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The researchers tested different concentrations of particles in the fluid, tracking how well they could move and rotate. Eventually they found that at higher concentrations, the particles blocked each other from rotating, but they could still move, forming a liquid glass state. "At certain particle densities orientational motion froze whereas translational motion persisted, resulting in glassy states where the particles clustered to form local structures with similar orientation," says Andreas Zumbusch, lead author of the study. The team says that the observed behavior comes from two competing glass transitions interacting with each other. Liquid glass has been predicted for decades, and the new observation suggests that similar processes could be at work in other glass-forming systems. The research was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Re:Old ass news (Score:5, Informative)
Would I be mistaken in assuming you're talking about the myth that cold glass still flows at a very slow rate, and that this can be seen in old windows?
https://www.cmog.org/article/d... [cmog.org]
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The Trump supporters have time on their hands tonight.
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Sure, the ones not planning a kidnapping, or an invasion of a public building, or a bombing, or some combination of the three.
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Would I be mistaken in assuming you're talking about the myth that cold glass still flows at a very slow rate, and that this can be seen in old windows?
No, he said "old ass news". Not "old glass news".
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The truth is that these researchers discovered the answer in an old Apple ][ computer floppy disk. They ignored the 'Transparent Aluminum' title and revised some other elements of the formula. It works well for aquariums, it turns out.
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Thixotropy is basically shear thinning with a relaxation time if memory serves me (think ketchup, you shake the bottle and it becomes less viscous, and that lowered viscosity lingers after it stops moving).
Re: Old ass news (Score:1)
I'm afraid that even if I'm correct about what the terms mean, I have no idea how critical fluctuations and glassy arrest are related to ketchup thickening.
Re: Old ass news (Score:4, Interesting)
I just know what thixotropy means (I think) because my girlfriend works for a company that makes rheology instruments and likes to talk about this stuff (it also helps her talk to laymen in her job by trying to explain to me).
A lot of the study currently involves hard spheres in a newtonian fluid, it seems like with this they used elliptical solids and were able to get interesting results that supported theories about this liquid glass state existing.
I have absolutely no idea how this has anything to do with thixotropy or why it was known to work this way decades ago, I just know ketchup is how thixotropy is explained to me as a concept using things that are regularly interacted with.
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I got it backwards I suppose. It thins over time, it doesn't necessarily stay thinned for an extended period?
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The CMOG article by Dr. Robert Brill that you link to concludes with a paragraph that opens with,
"Glass Doesn't Flow
When all is said and done, the story about stained glass windows flowing—just because glasses have certain liquid-like characteristics—is an appealing notion, but in reality it just isn't so."
But the OP here includes the statement,
"Eventually they found that at higher concentrations, the particles blocked each other from rotati
Re:Old ass news (Score:5, Informative)
Not GPP or GGPP, but I think I see what's going on.
Traditional glass is an amorphous solid. However, it is a widespread urban myth (which e.g. I was taught by a physics teacher at school) that it is an extremely viscous liquid. Thus Presence Eternal believed that "this is old news" was a reference to that urban myth.
However, the "liquid glass" which this new research is talking about is not traditional glass. It is therefore not in contradiction with the statement that traditional glass is a solid. Note that I haven't RTFA (this is /.) so I'm not sure in what senses this liquid glass is liquid or a glass. Note also that from the summary it appears to be a model rather than an actual manufactured material. I expect to see a physical realisation in a /. story in a year or five.
Re: Old ass news (Score:2)
Phew, that was close,... About one inch away from getting banned!
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What I'm trying to understand from your comment is that the OP describes a liquid glass state, but the article you link to states that glass doesn't flow.
While stating, that glass is still has liquid-like characteristics.
He lost me somewhere along the way, too.
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I can already see it now... (Score:4, Funny)
2021: Liquid glass
2022: Liquid metal
2023: T-1000
2024: 01000001 01001100 01001100 00100000 01011001 01001111 01010101 01010010 00100000 01000010 01000001 01010011 01000101 00100000 01000001 01010010 01000101 00100000 01000010 01000101 01001100 01001111 01001110 01000111 00100000 01010100 01001111 00100000 01010101 01010011
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2022: Liquid metal 2023: T-1000
From liquid metal to T-1000 in ONE year.
(says the 21st Century internet surfer...still on IPv4.)
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You may think you're on IPv4, but unless you're blocking IPv6 at the firewall, you're using IPv6.
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Wait, so they used an invalid analogy... (Score:1)
... and came to never-before-observed conclusion?
You don't say!
Maybe it had something to do with ATOMS NOT BEING ELLIPTICAL BALLS!
This is so insanely far off, that people start to take it seriously again because "It just can't be that ridiculous. So obviously I just don't get it, and it must be proper science!".
Who published that crap?
Re:Wait, so they used an invalid analogy... (Score:5, Informative)
Maybe it had something to do with ATOMS NOT BEING ELLIPTICAL BALLS!
No it doesn't. It clearly states this is the shape of a molecule, not an individual atom.
And no it doesn't, molecules most certainly can and do form elliptical shapes from their chemical bond structures.
Two carbon atoms forms an ellipse. A carbon + hydrogen atom is an elongated ellipse.
Two hydrogen and an oxygen atom is almost always recognized as "a micky mouse head" - Yes I'm serious.
Why would you think something that exists, couldn't exist?
The difference here is molecules that interlock with their electron magnetic fields to prevent relative motion are solids.
Those that attract but don't interlock are liquids.
They are claiming a structure form that interlocks partially but not completely as in a normal solid.
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Two hydrogen and an oxygen atom is almost always recognized as "a micky mouse head"
How appropriate that dihydrogen monoxide - the invisible killer that's ubiquitous in our lives, even in our food chain- resembles a Disney character. That should have been the first warning.
Re:Today's Internet is a joke. (Score:5, Funny)
Weird naming (Score:3)
They didn't 'discover' anything. (Score:3)
When a real world experiment proves their theory, then they can claim discovery.
-Glass house is not fluid.
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Oh, I misread that... (Score:2)