Particles are pulled out of a dispersion to form a ‘pearl necklace’, by applying an electric field through a needle-shaped electrode. Credit: Ming Han
Rozynek, a researcher at Adam Mickiewicz University in Pozna, Poland, demonstrated something that looked almost like magic. When he poked a needle-shaped electrode into a mixture of micron-sized, spherical metal particles dispersed in silicone oil, a sphere stuck to its end. As Rozynek pulled the electrode out of the dispersion, another sphere attached to the first sphere, and then another to the second sphere, and so on, until a long chain formed. “The spheres behaved like magnetic beads, except no magnetism was involved,” said Prof. Luijten, NW McCormick School of Engineering. “The particles have no tendency to cluster...
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