Pure water can serve as an insulator that is almost perfect. Researchers were also able to demonstrate how this fluid can be converted into metal.
Water that can be found in nature is able to conduct electricity. However, this is due to the impurities that dissolve and become free ions that enable the flow of electric current. Pure water only turns metallic or electronically conductive at pressures that are extremely high and that exceed what can be lab-produced.
However, researchers were able to show that high pressure is not the only one that can lead to pure water metallicity. They demonstrated it through the "Spectroscopic evidence for a gold-coloured metallic water solution" study.
By making pure water come into contact with an alkali metal that shares electrons, charged and free-moving particles can be added. This, thus, makes water metallic. In this case, the alkali metal used was a potassium and sodium alloy.
The conductivity that results only lasts for a couple of seconds. However, it is a crucial step towards the capacity to understand this water phase by direct study.
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