Fun Science FRIEDay – Think water comes in just liquid, ice and gas? Think again!

One of the most basic things that we learn when growing up is that water can exist in 3 different states of matter: as a gas (water vapor), as a liquid (water… water), and as a solid (ice). This basic and fundamental concept has recently been turned upside down as scientist have discovered that water might also exists in a fourth state; liquid water it appears might actually come in two different states. A collaborative team of researchers led by Dr. Laura Maestro at Oxford University, found that the  physical properties of water changed their behavior between 50 and 60℃ potentially changing to a second physical state of water.

(Photo credit: Pixabay/Public Domain Pictures via CC0 Public Domain)

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Fun Science Holidays – The World’s Smallest Snowman

As 2016 winds to a close, and in the spirit of the holiday season behold the world’s smallest snowman, measuring in at 3 microns. To put that into perspective, the smallest grains of sands are approximately 60 microns.

Mini snowman, ~3 microns in height (Photo credit: Western Nanofabrication Facility)

This creation is the work of Canadian nanotechnologists from the Western Nanofabrication Facility. The snowman is made from three ~1 micron silica spheres stacked using electron beam lithography. The eyes and mouth were cut with a focused ion, beam while the arms and nose were sculpted with platinum.

Tiny snowman amongst other 1 micron silica spheres. (Photo credit: Western Nanofabrication Facility)

A cool feel good story to round off 2016 as we head into 2017.  Happy New Year all!