When a chunk of alkali metal gets tossed into water, it explodes. But when a team of scientists gently placed a liquid drop of a sodium-potassium alloy on top of a water surface, they observed a ...

The golden metallic water layer on a sodium-potassium alloy drop. Courtesy: Phil Mason A metallic water solution has been observed in the laboratory for the first time thanks to a new method that ...

Concerns about the scarcity of lithium and other materials necessary in the now-ubiquitous lithium-ion batteries have recently driven many researchers to look for alternatives, such as sodium and ...

Under normal conditions, pure water is an almost perfect insulator. Water only develops metallic properties under extreme pressure, such as exists deep inside of large planets. Now, an international ...

They power tiny phones and two-tonne electric cars. They form the guts of a growing number of grid-storage systems that smooth the flow of electricity from wind and solar power stations. Without them, ...

In a mind-bending experiment, scientists transformed purified water into metal for a few fleeting seconds, thus allowing the liquid to conduct electricity. Unfiltered water can already conduct ...

When sodium and lithium metals meet liquid ammonia, the result is a dazzling deep blue solution that feels otherworldly. The chemistry is as dangerous as it is mesmerizing. It’s a glimpse into ...

When alkali metals like sodium dissolve in liquid ammonia, they produce a colorful spectacle that has puzzled and delighted chemists for centuries. The metals release electrons that give the solution ...