Our daily lives depend on the flow of water in pipes and electrons in wires. As similar as they may sound, the two phenomena are fundamentally different. Water molecules flow as a fluid continuum, not as individual molecules, obeying the laws of hydrodynamics. Electrons, however, flow as individual particles and diffuse inside metals as they get scattered by lattice vibrations. In this Nature Communications article, the Tafti Lab has created a new metallic specimen where the motion of electrons fundamentally changes from particle-like to fluid-like. The team has synthesized a new material in which, the electrons flow in the same way as water flows in a pipe. This is referred to as the hydrodynamic motion of electrons.
