Oxidation of Partially Submerged Steel Wool in Sodium Alginate

<b>Torsion Field structured sample shown on left. A piece of steel wool was cut into two equal halves. The two halves were then thoroughly washed to remove all soap. They were then clipped to clothespins and partially submerged in Sodium Alginate as a shown. Initially, both samples oxidized at the same rate with equal amounts of iron oxide settling uniformly at the bottom of both jars. After 24 hours, both samples looked identical; then the rust in the control sample (right) began agglomerating into one area around the base of the clothespin. This is obviously a paradoxical result since symmetry breaking (decreased entropy) normally would be expected to be a less orderly (more random/uniform) particle distribution. </b>