Scientists discover just how runny a liquid can be

[Peresvet]

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Scientists discover just how runny a liquid can be

 

Scientists from Queen Mary University of London and the Russian Academy of Sciences have found a limit to how runny a liquid can be.

 

Viscosity, the measure of how runny a fluid is, is a property that we experience daily when we fill a kettle, take a shower, pour cooking oil or move through air.

 

We know that liquids get thicker when cooled and runnier when heated, but how runny can a liquid ever get if we keep heating it?

 

Eventually, the liquid boils and becomes a gas or a dense gas-like substance if heated at high enough pressure. At the point where it transitions between the liquid-like and gas-like state is the minimum value of viscosity.