A 6-nanometer vapor barrier insulates ice during rapid heating
Put a drop of water into a very hot pan, and it can skitter across the surface on a cushion of vapor. This is known as the Leidenfrost effect. Now, scientists have observed a related phenomenon involving ice and an extremely hot surface—on a length scale of billionths of a meter (nanometers) and within billionths of a second (nanoseconds).
We haven't written up this one. Phys.org has the full story — the link below goes straight to it.
