Crystals can also be bent and elastic, causing people's perception of the structure to change

We all know crystals are fragile and non-elastic. But it turned out that we were wrong, the results of recent research by scientists show that crystals can be so flexible that they can bend continuously, even tying them into knots.

1. Official: We have a new physical state: time crystal
2. 5 outstanding scientific discoveries discovered in 2017

This completely changes our understanding of the structure, even the definition of crystals and opens a door to a new material, potentially revolutionizing the electronics and public sectors. technology.

Previously, researchers worked a lot with crystals and observed that it could be bent. But for the first time, they approached the crystal at the atomic level, and determined exactly that the crystal was both flexible and still retained its inherent properties.

John McMurtrie, one of the Queensland University of Technology researchers, said that crystals are often hard and brittle, when bent or impacted, they will crack or break. But now, studies have shown that the essence of crystals is not only hard, but also as soft as nylon.

Looking from every angle, crystals are shaped in the same way because they are made up of molecules arranged in a periodic structure, also known as an extended order structure.

Currently, crystals are often applied in modern technologies such as manufacturing phones and computers. But with this new research, scientists can create elastic crystals, bend many times and still be able to return to their original state. This makes it possible for crystals to be used in electronics manufacturing industries that can be bent, which was previously impossible.

Researchers have successfully created a thin crystal strand with a fishing line, 5cm long, flexible, elastic, able to tie but still as hard as crystal from a simple metal compound, which is copper (II ) acetylacetonate. Such a flexible crystal could become a new material of the future.