Diverse transformations of liquid metals between different morphologies

Abstract

Transformation from a film into a sphere, rapid merging of separate objects, controlled self-rotation, and planar locomotion are the very unusual phenomena observed in liquid metals under application of an electric field to a liquid metal immersed in or sprayed with water. A mechanism for these effects is suggested and potential applications - for example the recovery of liquid metal previously injected into the body for therapeutic purposes - are outlined.

Keywords: liquid metals; locomotion; morphological transformations; self-rotation; water vortexes.