WATCH: Researchers turn water into metal
Experiment was conducted in a vacuum but in normal environments, same process can be extraordinarily dangerous
October 23, 2022
While Alchemy, a process in which any ordinary metal is turned into gold, has not yet been made possible, scientists have managed to turn water into metal.
Water is a good conductor of electricity but it is not "metallic" unless it is put under extreme pressure. With the help of other metals, experts changed the state of water, turning it into an entirely different element.
The experiment was originally performed in 2021 and a paper was published in July of the same year. The videos of the process have now been shared with the public on YouTube.
The transformation occurs after pure water makes contact with electron-sharing alkali metals. In this case, researchers used an alloy made of sodium and potassium.
A small amount of water vapour was exposed to a drop of this alloy. The water vapour began to condense and increased the size of the droplet.
One problem, though, is the fact that alkali metals react explosively with water. The experiment was conducted in a vacuum but in normal environments, the same process can be extraordinarily dangerous.
