Salt Can Stretch Like Taffy In The Nanoworld
Medical News Today summarizes important research from government scientists at the Sandia Lab in New Mexico. Dr. Nathan Moore and colleagues have discovered that salt crystals can become a super plastic in the world of nanoscience and describe their findings in an article in the June issue of American Chemical Society's Nano Letters entitled: "Superplastic Nanowires Pulled from the Surface of Common Salt ."
Researchers have known for years that metals like gold, lead and aluminum can be pulled into nanowires 1/50,000th the width of a human hair. Like other materials of such tiny dimensions, their properties change. Materials that conduct electricity poorly, for instance, become good conductors and materials that break easily develop new strength. That's why nanomaterials may form the basis of futuristic technologies that spawn new industries. But until now, no one expected to create nanowires from crystals of common table salt, or sodium chloride, which crumbles so easily.
The scientists made the unusual discovery while studying how water coats salt crystals. They detected an unusual attractive force between the diamond tip of the microscope and the salt surface. After a series of tests, the researchers showed that the force encountered may have been caused by the presence of salt nanowires. In a similar test, they were able to capture images of salt nanowires being formed and stretched. The finding is "a striking and unexpected example of how material properties can change when viewed at the nanoscale."