Water seems like a simple substance to most people, but it is in reality a complex liquid that has many weird things that many people do not know about.
You can make instant snow from boiling hot water. This requires the environment to be extremely cold. Go anyplace with a temperature below zero, boil a cup of water, and toss it into the air. The result is near-instantaneous snow. If it gets to be 30 degrees Fahrenheit or so below zero, the water vapor will freeze instantly. That’s why the water has to be boiling. All of those heated particles of water cool very rapidly when exposed to super cold air, forming ice crystals in an instant.
There is a trick that you can do with pepper. Fill a bowl with water and sprinkle the pepper on top. When you touch it with your finger, nothing happens. Put some soap on your finger, touch it again, and watch the pepper spread. Due to surface tension, the pepper floats on top. The soap interferes with the hydrogen bond between water molecules, breaking the surface tension. Naturally, water molecules are strongly attracted to each other. So when the surface tension breaks, the water spreads out. It’s attracted to the outside water molecules, making it spread out and taking the pepper particles with it.
A laser and water can pull off a cool display. Place a small hole on the lower part of a bottle, then fill it up with water, while holding the hole. Point the laser directly on the hole. Let the water stream out and hold your hand below it. The laser is now reflected on your hand. The light does not completely bend. The water stream acts like a fiber optic, carrying the light. When the laser hits the stream, it is reflected inside the stream, giving the illusion of bending light.
You can instantly freeze water. Place purified water in your freezer. Get it to about 32°F, you can monitor it with a thermometer. You can also do guess work by placing multiple water bottles and testing them out every 30 min. Carefully take them out after, or they might transform ice crystals already. Transform the water by hitting the bottle. You can also pour the water on ice or anything that’s cold. Water normally freezes below 32°F or 0°C forming ice crystals. Impurities in the water can activate the crystallization. The absence of these impurities in purified water keeps it in a liquid state below freezing point. Hitting it or touching the ice activates the crystallization, since it’s already at freezing point, instantly turning the water into ice.
A balloon cannot pop when you hold it over fire, even though it normally does. The way to make this happen is to fill a balloon up with water, light a candle, slowly place the balloon on the candle, and the balloon will not pop. But it will if you leave it for too long. Water obviously absorbs heat well. The water inside the balloon absorbs the heat from the flame, cooling the rubber down and preventing it from breaking.
Follow Us!