VDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1966 It's the Extra Added Ingredient 47 Canadian Makes Water Flow Uphill Canadian Pt> PASADENA, Calif., Dec. 12-- Mr, James said Polymer ex- \\ perts could not recall any other j A Canadian graduate student at j elastic liquid; which would con- the California Institute of Tech- nology has discovered that or- tiriue to flow out of an ordinary container once the flow had i dinary water containing a poly- i been startei and the container mer powder will climb uphill j placed upright. Mr. Jamfes found thatover the edge of its container in a flow that can he stopped by cutting it with scissors. The gravity-defying proper- ties of "elastic water" were de- scribed by David James, 27, a graduate student and teaching assistant in mechanical en- gineering. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs, Hedley James of Belleville, Ont. The liquid is more than 90 per cent water. The second in- gredient is polyethylene oxide, a powder used in paints, plas- ters/clothes and women's hair sprays. Ti bee- Jar.es found that if a gallon full pf the solution were j placed 11 feet or more above j an empty! beaker, the f low! would corpnue until the f i r s t ' beaker wls drained. 'The molecules of the poly- mer are particularly long and probably! intertwined in the solution. Ms a result, there is an elastic quality that enables the liquid aleady spilled over the side of a container to pull more of the lifluid out. Also, the flow of the liquid acts as its own siphon. It is, in fact, a tubeless siphon." Wheij the flow is slow enough, a pair'of scissors can be used to cut the liquid an inch or two below/'the container rim. The liquidJabove the scissors literal- ly "snaps" back into the con- tainer and settles there, Suijlight or long exposure to air causes the polymer to dis- integrate and the solution to lose its "climbing" ability. n :i'-S&fe,,. :" : AP Wircphoto STUDENT'S DEMONSTRATION: David James, 27-year-old graduate student, shows how the uphill water works. i