Polyethylene oxide or ‘one of the slimiest substances known to man’, as Youtuber Steve Mould calls it, seems to defy gravity. Mould showed how the polymer dissolved in some water poured itself just by slightly tipping the beaker sideways.
The polymer, which is the same goo in goopy strips on razor cartridges, can perform this stunt because it literally is one single molecule — a supermolecule of other molecules that are locked together in countless chains. That’s simply amazing, of course, because of we are used to the idea that a molecule is something extremely tiny. As a side note, some of the biggest molecules are rubber tires!
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