Dry water

The substance resembles powdered sugar and could revolutionise the way chemicals are used.
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Each particle of dry water contains a water droplet surrounded by a sandy silica coating.
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In fact, 95 per cent of dry water is ''wet'' water.
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Scientists believe dry water could be used to combat global warming by soaking up and trapping the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.
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Tests show that it is more than three times better at absorbing carbon dioxide than ordinary water.
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Dry water may also prove useful for storing methane and expanding the energy source potential of the natural gas.
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Dr Ben Carter, from the University of Liverpool, presented his research on dry water at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston.
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He said: ''There's nothing else quite like it.
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Hopefully, we may see dry water making waves in the future.'
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Another application demonstrated by Dr Carter's team was using dry water as a catalyst to speed up reactions between hydrogen and maleic acid.
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This produces succinic acid, a key raw material widely used to make drugs, food ingredients, and consumer products.
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Usually hydrogen and maleic acid have to be stirred together to make succinic acid.
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But this is not necessary when using dry water particles containing maleic acid, making the process greener and more energy efficient.
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If you can remove the need to stir your reactions, then potentially you're making considerable energy savings
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The technology could be adapted to create ''dry'' powder emulsions, mixtures of two or more unblendable liquids such as oil and water, the researchers believe.
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Dry emulsions could make it safer and easier to store and transport potentially harmful liquids.
 
Telegraph