So this galvanic battery creates an internal electrical power, and this type of electricity will very easily lead to stretching of the surface of the liquid metal in an asymmetrical pattern, and this pattern leads to rotations inside the liquid metal, and the process of these rotations will set the liquid metal in motion in a certain direction," he said. There's also something important, in fact very important, which is the electricity generated behind the alloy. Liu said it was able to 'fuel' itself for about an hour. But the team made their biggest breakthrough when they realized that bringing it into contact with a flake of aluminium caused a reaction creating hydrogen bubbles that allowed it to move of its own accord. When the current was switched off, the metal returned to its original drop shape. Changing the voltage applied to the metal allowed it to 'shape-shift' into different formations. Last year they discovered that an applied electrical current causes the gallium alloy to drastically alter its shape. The device is made from a drop of metal alloy consisting mostly of gallium, which is a liquid at just under 30 degrees Celsius. Professor Liu Jing and his team have created what they believe could prove the first step toward developing a robot similar to the infamous T-1000 shape-shifting, liquid metal assassin from the Terminator movies. BEIJING, CHINA - It may look like nothing more than a small ball of metal, but the shape-shifting and self-propulsion abilities of a liquid metal alloy discovered by scientists at China's Tsinghua University has captured the imaginations of scientists and science-fiction fans across the world.
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