Monday, 13 January 2014

Close-packed bubbles

 
I found these bubbles in a stream near Coniston. They reminded me of the way atoms are packed together in materials. I think this is the hexagonal close packed model. The large bubble is similar to the way that large carbon particles stick out between the layers of iron atoms when you make steel, stopping the layers sliding over each other and turning a brittle material into a ductile one.