{"id":234317,"date":"2026-03-31T02:27:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/liquids-can-fracture-like-solids-researchers-discover-the-breaking-point"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:27:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:27:29","slug":"liquids-can-fracture-like-solids-researchers-discover-the-breaking-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/liquids-can-fracture-like-solids-researchers-discover-the-breaking-point","title":{"rendered":"Liquids can fracture like solids\u2014researchers discover the breaking point"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/liquids-can-fracture-like-solids-researchers-discover-the-breaking-point2.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In a development that could shift our basic understanding of fluid mechanics, researchers from Drexel University have reported that, given the right circumstances, it is possible to induce a simple liquid to fracture like a solid object. Recently <a href=\"https:\/\/link.aps.org\/doi\/10.1103\/t2vy-32wr\" target=\"_blank\">published<\/a> in the journal <i>Physical Review Letters<\/i>, the research shows how viscous liquids can suddenly break if stretched with enough force.<\/p>\n<p>The fracturing behavior suggests that viscosity\u2014a liquid\u2019s resistance to flowing\u2014may play a more prominent role in its mechanical properties than previously understood. It also raises new possibilities for how liquids might be manipulated in everything from hydraulics to 3D printers to blood vessels.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur findings show that if pulled apart with enough force per area, a simple liquid\u2014a liquid that flows\u2014will reach what we call a point of \u2018critical stress,\u201d when it will actually fracture like a solid. And this is likely true for all simple liquids, including common examples, such as water and oil,\u201d said Thamires Lima, Ph.D., an assistant research professor in Drexel\u2019s College of Engineering, who helped to lead the research. \u201cThis fundamentally changes our understanding of fluid dynamics.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a development that could shift our basic understanding of fluid mechanics, researchers from Drexel University have reported that, given the right circumstances, it is possible to induce a simple liquid to fracture like a solid object. Recently published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the research shows how viscous liquids can suddenly break if [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-234317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234317\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}