LEVITATION has revealed the secrets of liquid boron, a substance that can eat
through almost any container.
Boron only becomes liquid at 2100 掳C and is so corrosive at that temperature
it is impossible to contain. So until now, how boron atoms behave in a liquid
has been a mystery.
快猫短视频s at the Argonne National Laboratory and the company Containerless
Research, both near Chicago, suspended boron crystals on continuous jets of
argon and then heated them with a laser.
When X-rays were passed through the liquid, the diffraction pattern suggested
that boron, much like ice, retains some of its crystalline structure upon
melting (Physical Review Letters, vol 8, p 586).
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