Grab an ice cube, charge your phone
Okay, maybe not that straightforward, but still pretty cool
Bend ice and get electricity
Wait… what?
It’s true.
A team of international scientists discovered that when you bend or deform ice—just plain, frozen water—it generates an electrical current. The term is “flexoelectric,” meaning it can produce electricity when unevenly deformed.
Since water is one of the most abundant resources we have on the planet, this could be a pretty big deal. This could help us to better understand how lightning forms in thunderstorms. And it could impact the future of technology in a few significant ways.
What’s more, they discovered it’s ferroelectric at very cold temperatures.
Dr. Xin Wen, one of the researchers, shared: "[Ferroelectric] means that the ice surface can develop a natural electric polarization, which can be reversed when an external electric field is applied—similar to how the poles of a magnet can be flipped. The surface ferroelectricity is a cool discovery in its own right, as it means that ice may have not just one way to generate electricity, but two: ferroelectricity at very low temperatures, and flexoelectricity at higher temperatures all the way to 0 °C."
This property means ice acts similarly to electroceramic materials like titanium dioxide, used in sensors and capacitors. On the surface, it doesn’t sound too practical. Keeping ice that cold isn’t practical for commercial use as a sensor or capacitor, but it could find its way into some interesting specializations…
POLL RESULTS
It was unanimous. And since you all expressed interest in a foray into fantasy, I can let you know that an outline has been developed and an initial scene written. But it’ll have to wait until I finish this current work-in-progress.
Which means…
I’d better get back to it!
Hey, thanks for taking time out of your day to stop by the Speakeasy.
Fair skies & tailwinds,
L.L. Richman
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Cool! (Pun intended! 😉)