Surprise discovery of accelerated evaporation of oil could help clean up spills & desalinate water

Published on by in Technology

Surprise discovery of accelerated evaporation of oil could help clean up spills & desalinate water

Electrorheological fluids are non-conducting oils carrying a sprinkling of dielectric nanoparticles, such as titanium oxide. Applying an electric field to these fluids, forces the nanoparticles together, turning the liquid to solid.

Electrorheological fluids have all kinds of applications in devices such as shock absorbers, brakes and artificial hips where engineers use them to instantly change resistance to movement.

But today Kunquan Lu and pals at Institute of Physics in Beijing, China, say that something strange has been going on in their lab where they study electrorheological fluids for some years.

Read more:http://j.mp/YKvRDm

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