Swarming Bacteria Create an ‘Impossible’ Superfluid
Researchers explore a loophole that extracts useful energy from a fluid’s seemingly random motion. The secret? Sugar and asymmetry.
When water contains a sufficient concentration of E. coli or other swimming bacteria (as in this animation), it can act like a superfluid with negative viscosity. “For a normal fluid it’s impossible because the whole thing would be unstable, but for bacteria somehow it works.”
Read here: http://bit.ly/2LERTJ1
Researchers explore a loophole that extracts useful energy from a fluid’s seemingly random motion. The secret? Sugar and asymmetry.
When water contains a sufficient concentration of E. coli or other swimming bacteria (as in this animation), it can act like a superfluid with negative viscosity. “For a normal fluid it’s impossible because the whole thing would be unstable, but for bacteria somehow it works.”
Read here: http://bit.ly/2LERTJ1