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Shapeshifting Metal Brings Us One Step Closer to the T-1000
by Mark Strauss
Composed of liquid metal, the robot assassin in Terminator 2 could change its shape at will. In boring real life, surface tension makes forming non-spherical liquid shapes impractical—at least until now. New research has yielded a technique that makes it possible to manipulate liquid metal into multiple configurations.
In a study just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from North Carolina State University describe how they’ve succeeded in controlling the surface tension of liquid metals by applying very low voltages—opening the door to a new generation of reconfigurable electronic circuits (see video below).
Click here to view the embedded video.
The scientists used a liquid metal alloy of gallium and indium—which has a remarkably high surface tension, causing it to bead up into a spherical blob. But, by applying less than one volt to the metal when it was immersed in water, they created an oxide “skin” that lowered the surface tension between the alloy and the surrounding fluid. This change allowed the liquid metal to spread out like a pancake, due to gravity.
Source: http://philosophers-stone.co.uk/wordpress/2014/09/shapeshifting-metal-brings-us-one-step-closer-to-the-t-1000/
