Description:

Tiny brass spheres only 120 microns across form a variety of patterns when they are agitated in fluids trapped between glass slides. Rather than mechanically shaking the particles, the researchers applied an electric field to the slides, which caused the particles to bounce back and forth between the slides. The patterns that result resemble those formed in shaken containers of sand, ball bearings, and other large granular materials. In effect, the particles self-assemble in ways that may allow us to create novel and useful nanoscale structures for tiny electrical or mechanical components.
 

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