New Material Gets Bigger When Squeezed

Discovery.com ^ | Jul 21, 2013 08:29 AM ET | by Jesse Emspak

[Red Badger]

Squeeze something, it’s supposed to get smaller. But some odd substances grow in one direction when pressed on all sides.

Andrew Cairns, a graduate student at the University of Oxford, has found one called zinc dicyanoaurate, a transparent material that expands by up to 10 percent when put under pressure. The unusual characteristic, called negative linear compressibility, is similar to how squid and octopus muscles work. And so it’s not too far-fetched to think that the new material could be used to make artificial muscles.

The strange behavior happens because of the molecular structure of the zinc dicyanoaurate. It contains a little chain of gold atoms shaped like a spring surrounded by a frame made from other atoms. When the zinc dicyanoaurate gets squeezed, the gold “spring” stretches or compresses, while the framework around it gets bigger in one direction and smaller in another. Let the pressure off and the whole thing returns to its former shape.

Cairns will present his findings at the American Crystallographic Association meeting July 20 to 24 in Honolulu.

[Red Badger]

Video at link............

[Quality_Not_Quantity]

There’s a dirty response just waiting to be posted...

[Col Frank Slade]

Quick - Someone email this to Anthony Weiner.

[LostInBayport]

" It ain't new any more, but the rest is true. Ah heh heh. Sigh..."

[Red Badger]

The possibilities are endless.......................

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Well,,,, my “material” ain’t new, but still,,,,,,,,,,it does the same thing.

[MeshugeMikey]

Federal Expenditures"..the Money Supply" Barack Obama's EGO

This Message Not Approved by the NSA

[Perdogg]

GMTA

[blackdog]

The Weinernamic Force.

[Red Badger]

That’s found only in wormholes...............

[Mr. Jeeves]

New Material Gets Bigger When Squeezed

The American Wife? ~ducking~

[109ACS]

The name given to this mysterious material is “Government”.

[TigersEye]

You’ll be walking like a duck when Mrs. Jeeves sees that post! LOL

[dragonblustar]

New Material Gets Bigger When Squeezed

Is this a nerd's pick up line?

[PGR88]

[dfwgator]

[Mr. Jeeves]

She’s Asian and fairly slim - so she agrees with my scientific observation. :)

[TigersEye]

Safely taunting the players from the box seats. heh heh

[Fido969]

Well,,,, my “material” ain’t new, but still,,,,,,,,,,it does the same thing.

Sigh... My material ain't new, and it don't do that no more...

[Sherman Logan]

Blue pills. Just saying.