The olive oil spoon makes the surface of the lake wavy flat in the blink of an eye

A physics lecturer at Harvard University, USA shared the olive oil spooning experiment into the lake, making the rippling water surface quiet for a moment.

Dr. Greg Kestin, a physics professor at Harvard University, posted a video recording of the experiment on YouTube in January, according to BtechB.com. In the video, spoonful of olive oil quickly spread across the water within minutes, causing the ripples rolling around Dr. Kestin's boat to disappear. As a result, a large area on the lake quickly became smooth.

Olive oil makes the water ripples become still.(Photo: Mr Lightman 1975).

This phenomenon occurs because when olive oil comes into contact with the water surface, the negatively charged surface of the oil molecule is attracted to the positive charge surface of the water molecule. Therefore, all oil molecules emit and adhere evenly on the water surface, forming a coating of the same thickness as a molecule.

"Normally, the wind creates ripples through the impact on the surface of the water. But here, the oil acts as a carpet that is not easily bent or stretched on the water. The wind can only pull the carpet. along the water without creating ripples , " explains Dr. Kestin.

This famous experiment was used by Benjamin Franklin, one of America's fathers, to convince people that he was capable of suppressing the wave. Reaction not only occurs on lakes or streams but can also be applied at sea. Sailors often poured cooking oil into the water during the storm so that the boat smoothly surfed.

Through several mathematical calculations, Dr. Kestin instructed how to detect the size of olive oil molecules when looking down at the water. Because the oil layer is as thick as a molecule at any point, you can imagine dividing the oil layer into circles large enough to fit in a spoon. The oil area spreads to cover 0.2 hectares, so you need to divide 0.2 hectares into 5 million spoons.

If you stack all the circles on the spoon, they will be about a centimeter tall, corresponding to 5 million circle layers, ie each molecule is equal to 0.000005 centimeters.