2024-04-02 06:00:10
A team of researchers has questioned a fundamental principle of physics, observing particles of the same charge attract each other under certain conditions, a phenomenon that appears to defy the law stated by French physicist Charles-Augustin de Coulomb in the 18th century. century.
Traditionally, it is believed that opposite charges attract each other while like charges repel each other. However, the work published on March 1 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology demonstrated that in theeau or certain alcohols, particles of the same charge can attract each other. This discovery was made by placing microparticles of silica charged, very small, in water or two types of alcohol and observing their behavior.
In water, positively charged particles repulsed each other, consistent with Coulomb’s law. But, the negatively charged particles formed tiny hexagonal structures in a precise pH range, similar to the acidity of coffee or milk. This behavior was reversed in alcohols like ethanol andisopropanolwhere positive charges attract each other.
To explain this phenomenon, the researchers proposed a model taking into account the molecular nature of water, considering it not as a continuous medium, but composed of small electromagnetic dipoles. An “electrosolvation force” would emerge from theinteraction between theoxygen negative water and negative silica particles, influenced by an overall charge change after transfer from a proton on silica particles in a specific pH range.
This new model could have important implications for the understanding of biomolecular condensates, essential in the study of human diseases. The researchers hope this discovery will help shed light on the fundamental mechanisms of disease, highlighting the importance of their work in the field of biophysics.
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