The Floating Water Bridge.

Surprising Experiment

Researchers have coaxed water into leaping a 25 millimetre gap between two regular beakers in a gravity-defying stunt. The engineering feat could involve a hitherto unknown microstructure of water.

"Nobody would expect stable bridges to form," says Elmar C. Fuchs, a physical chemist at the Graz University of Technology.

Fuchs' team applied up to 25,000 volts across electrodes placed in two beakers filled nearly to the brim with destilled water. Within a millisecond, water crawled up to the edge of one beaker and, in a burst of sparks, leapt across the gap between them. As the researchers moved the beakers apart, the bridge grew. The resulting thin cylinder of water stood up to 45 minutes.

WARNING: High voltage can be lethal!