Scientists have long suspected that carbon nanotubes would play a key role in our future as an important building block with plenty of practical uses. Medical breakthroughs, computer components, heck, even as a way to construct a Space Elevator. Name a futuristic innovation and nanotubes were likely to play a part. However, I don’t think that anyone had ever imagined Ice Wires. And yet thanks to a new water based discovery that’s exactly what we may one day have.
As Futurism reports:
“Researchers from MIT have discovered that water in nanotubes can freeze solid when heated up to beyond its natural boiling point.
Using a technique called vibrational spectroscopy, scientists were able to track the movement of water inside the nanotube, and determine whether it was in a liquid, solid, or gas phase. According to Michael Strano – the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor in Chemical Engineering at MIT, and his fellow researchers – while they fully expected the water to change its phase, the results of this particular experiment came as a complete surprise.
Instead of boiling, water solidified at a temperature of at least 105° C.”
This mind-blowing observation could lead to further advances that would continue to power us through the Information Age.
“…there’s a lot we can do with this discovery. One particular application is the creation of ‘ice wires’ that remain stable even at room temperature. The existence of such a wire would allow it to maintain the unique electrical and thermal properties of ice, allowing for better conductivity of protons.”
That’s right. Ice wires may one day power us towards the future. Exciting times.
Are Ice Wires the Greatest Idea Ever?
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