Question: Which Metal can exist in both solid and liquid form at the same time as per recent discovery?
(a) Helium
(b) Iron
(c) Potassium
(d) Sodium
Answer: (c)
Related facts:
- Researchers have recently discovered a new stable state of matter that can actually exist as both a liquid and a solid at the same time.
- Atoms in physical material which can be either solid, liquid, or they were gas. But researchers have discovered some elements like potassium that can take on properties of two different states at the same time.
- 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.
- The AI computer models showed that potassium turns to become both liquid and solid and enters a chain-melted state when exposed to extreme pressure and temperature.
- Potassium reacts out of character under pressure and the atoms rearrange themselves. The chains of potassium atoms dissolve in this state, but the potassium crystals remain solid.
- Researchers are yet not sure however what exactly was going on at the atomic level that created this change.
- Researchers have compared it to a sponge that is dripping, but both the sponge and dripping material are made of the same thing.
Links:
https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/new-state-matter-can-solid-2737588
https://www.earth.com/news/new-matter-solid-liquid/