Liquid metal imbalance of the surface tension induces a pressure difference between the rear and the head, which produces a thrust to drive the droplet toward the head; at the same time, the hydrogen produced in the electrochemical reaction process also further raises the thrust. The discovery of this phenomenon laid the technical foundation for the development of intelligent motors, vascular robots, fluid pumping systems, flexible actuators and even more complex liquid metal robots. Liquid metal Liquid metal consists of alloys with very low melting points which form a eutectic that is liquid at room temperature. The standard metal used to be
Liquid metal this observation of "wetting by rubbing into glass surface" has created a widely spread misconception that the gallium-based liquid metals wet glass surfaces, as if the liquid breaks free of the oxide skin and wets the surface. The reality is the opposite: the oxide makes the liquid wet the glass. In more details: as the liquid is rubbed into and spread onto the glass surface, the liquid oxidizes and coats the glass with a thin layer of oxide (solid) residues, on which the liquid metal wets. In other words, what is seen is a gallium-based liquid metal wetting its solid