Defying the laws of physics: Oxford scientists have discovered that particles with the same charge can still be attracted.

The main principle of physics is that particles with opposite charges attract each other, while those with the same charge repel each other. However, scientists from Oxford have discovered that under certain conditions, these rules can be violated.

During the experiment, the team placed negatively charged microsilicon particles in water and found that at certain pH levels, they can attract each other, forming clusters of hexagonal shape - which seems to violate the basic electromagnetic principle, according to which particles with the same charge should repel each other at any distance.

When researchers examined this effect using particle interaction theory that takes into account the solvent structure, a new attractive force was discovered that can overcome electrostatic repulsion.

However, for positively charged particles, the interaction remained unchanged - even at different pH levels, they repelled each other. Interestingly, in another solvent (ethanol was used by the scientists) - they eventually grouped together.

The team says that this discovery may lead to a serious revision of scientific principles and could be used in practical chemistry for processes such as self-assembly, crystallization, and phase separation.

The study was published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

Source: New Atlas