Discover the Top 13 Amazing Fun Facts About Solids: Unveiling the Hidden World of Solid Matter

1. Liquid Crystals: Conga Line vs Waltz

Feeling unsure about your liquid crystals? Is it a solid relationship, or do they just need space to breathe? It's complicated, like a reality TV couple trying to agree on who sits where at dinner: Liquid crystals have a molecular structure that's a delicate dance somewhere between the conga line of liquids and the well-rehearsed waltz of solids.
Source => infinitylearn.com

2. Glass: Not a Molten Pity Party

Don't let old tales shatter your perception: glass isn't throwing itself a molten pity party at room temperature! In fact, it's an amorphous solid with its silicon dioxide molecules not crystallizing like a fancy dinner party. And no, those vintage windowpanes aren't slowly dribbling their way down to Earth – they're simply thicker at the bottom because, well, that's just how they rolled back in the day: The misconception that glass is a liquid may have come from observing old window glass, but today's float glass process ensures even thickness and solidifies its stance in the solid squad.
Source => thoughtco.com

Did you know that if atoms were the size of basketballs, the proton at the heart of a hydrogen atom would be just a grain of salt? Discover the mind-blowing emptiness of matter in our reality!

=> Fun Facts about Matter

3. Un-Flowy Glass Windows

Don't worry, your glass windows won't go all Salvador Dali on you: Glass is actually an amorphous solid, not a liquid, and remains perfectly un-flowy at room temperature thanks to strong chemical bonds – so those panes will hold their shape for billions of years, even without a trip to the gym.
Source => cmog.org

4. Glaciers and Sand Dunes: Slow-Motion Hustle

Glaciers and sand dunes may not win the Kentucky Derby anytime soon, but they've got a slow-motion hustle that would put even the most dedicated sloths to shame: Solids, like glaciers and sand dunes, can exhibit fluid-like behavior, as particles within them can move past one another under the influence of enough time and pressure, resulting in the steady, glacial pace of these seemingly immobile masses.
Source => homework.study.com

5. Atoms: The Clingy Party Guests

Picture atoms as super clingy acquaintances that just won't let go at a party, forming a group that creates a solid foundation for a gossip mill: Solids are made up of particles that are tightly held in place by strong attractive forces, with crystalline solids having a well-ordered structure, while amorphous solids prefer a more casual arrangement, resulting in different melting points and properties.
Source => chem.libretexts.org

6. Twisted Bilayer Graphene: Dance Floor Revolution

What do you get when you take two layers of graphene out for a twist on the dance floor? A shocking display of superconductivity and the star of the infrared night vision party! Hilarity aside: twisted bilayer graphene, a material with a unique moiré pattern made up of over 10,000 carbon atoms, exhibits unexpected electronic properties and unusual interactions with mid-infrared light, potentially revolutionizing the field of infrared detectors.
Source => news.utdallas.edu

7. Sir Graphite: Master of Many Trades

Ever wondered why a pencil's inner workings might get you out of a radioactive pickle and still spice up your tennis game? Well, the answer is quite clear, Sir Graphite is master of many trades: Carbon's black sheep child, graphite, not only lends its talents to the humble pencil and the world of lubrication, but it gallivants into nuclear reactors to tame neutrons, cozies up in batteries as a conductor, keeps tennis rackets stiff and strong, and steeps graphene offspring with hopes of conquering the realm of electronics, sensors, and solar cell efficiency.
Source => scientificamerican.com

8. Galinstan: The Chilly Concoction

Feeling too hot to handle? Brace yourself for this chilly concoction: Galinstan, an intriguing alloy made from gallium, tin, and indium, has a melting point of -19°C, making it a cool 50°C lower than pure gallium and over 100°C lower than its other components. This frosty blend serves as an example of eutectic alloys, boasting the lowest melting points amongst their element buddies.
Source => thoughtco.com

9. Buckyballs: Carbon's Soccer Dance Party

Who knew soccer balls could teach carbon some electrifying dance moves! Fullerenes, known as Buckyballs, boogie to the unified beat of pentagons and hexagons, much like their sportier counterpart: The real fun begins when they partner with alkali metals, showcasing their groovy superconductivity for electronic and energy storage applications.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

10. Quasicrystals: Chaotic Breakdancing Atoms

When atoms abandon their synchronized swimming routine in favor of chaotic breakdancing moves, you get quasicrystals: peculiar solids with orderly chaos that had scientists scratching their heads! Hilarity aside: Quasicrystals, first discovered by physicist Dan Shechtman in 1982, are unique structures with non-repeating arrangements of atoms that defy the standard periodic organization, and are now found to be non-electrical conductors, thanks to new research by mathematician David Damanik and his colleague Serguei Tcheremchantsev.
Source => sciencedaily.com

11. Frosty the Slippery Snowman

We always knew Frosty the Snowman was a little slippery, but now science is on the case! Turns out, ice's slippery nature has baffled scientists and spurred countless debates: While common textbooks once blamed pressure-melting for ice's slipperiness, there are now two alternative theories - one is that friction from a skate blade or shoe melts a thin layer of ice, creating the slippery surface, and the other is that water molecules at the ice's surface vibrate more and remain unfrozen, even at temperatures below freezing. However, recent experiments have revealed that ice may not be as slippery as we once thought, leaving the exact reason still up for debate.
Source => nytimes.com

12. Ghosts & Sublimation: Social Distancing

Ghosts practicing social 'sublimation' distancing: It's not just spooky apparitions that vanish into thin air - solid matter like dry ice, aka solid carbon dioxide, pulls off the same party trick by turning directly into gas without ever becoming a liquid, creating a fog effect that would make Casper green with envy.
Source => usgs.gov

13. Shape-Memory Alloys: Now You See Me, Now You Don't!

Imagine solids playing a game of "Now You See Me, Now You Don't!" with their shapes: Shape-memory alloys have the unique ability to change their crystal structures when the temperature changes, allowing them to reversibly alter their shape through heating or cooling, and finding various applications in industries such as aerospace and medical devices.
Source => en.wikipedia.org