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Soft matter and liquids

Soft matter and liquids

Law-breaking liquid defies the rules

24 Sep 2004 Isabelle Dumé

Physicists in France have discovered a liquid that "freezes" when it is heated. Marie Plazanet and colleagues at the Université Joseph Fourier and the Institut Laue-Langevin, both in Grenoble, found that a simple solution composed of two organic compounds becomes a solid when it is heated to temperatures between 45 and 75°C, and becomes a liquid when cooled again. The team says that hydrogen bonds are responsible for this novel behaviour (M Plazanet et al. 2004 J. Chem. Phys 121 5031).

Solids usually melt when they are heated, and liquids turn into gas, although exceptions do exist wh

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