Scientists have observed like charges attracting each other over long distances in an apparent contradiction of a fundamental principle of physics.
"Because like-charged objects in a vacuum are expected to repel regardless of whether the sign of the charge they carry is positive or negative, the expectation is that like-charged particles in solution must also monotonically repel," the researchers wrote in the paper. To explain the strange behavior, the researchers turned to a theory they had been developed that modeled the water as molecular rather than as a continuous medium.
This force reduces the overall energy in the system after a proton has"hopped" onto the silica particles to decrease their overall negative charge, and it occurs at a distinct pH range when the protons in the solution are able to switch their positions.—Otherworldly 'time crystal' made inside Google quantum computer could change physics forever"You need to be in a range of pH where the protons want to hop on and off," Krishnan said.