You can make a gravity-defying liquid just by mixing a molecule called polyethylene oxide and water. The BBC show Quite Interesting put together a video demonstrating how it works. They even made the mixture glows under UV light.
Polyethylene oxide works like a siphon, which makes water flow uphill by a combination of pressure and weight differences.
Liquid flows from high pressure to low pressure. The weight of the water above creates this pressure, so the pressure at the bottom of the column is higher than that at the top.
The weight of the water pushes the liquid out of the bottom of the column.
Weight plays a role since the water in column C weighs more than column B. Its heavy enough to pull the water out of container A into container D.
Polyethylene oxide creates a siphon effect when its mixed with water because it forms a gel-like mixture when hydrogen bonds form between the oxygen atoms of the polyethylene oxide molecules and the hydrogen atoms of the water. This helps pull the liquid out of the top vessels because the molecules form long chains.
The gel pulls itself upwards because the stream flowing down into the bottom vessel weighs more than the stream flowing up.
The resulting gravity-defying liquid is used to thicken things like shampoos, conditioners, and lotions. You can watch the full video below if you don't mind a little crude humor. The video was posted to YouTube by the BBC.
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