UED-Water-Animation (IMAGE) DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Caption An animation shows how a water molecule responds after being hit with laser light.. As the excited water molecule starts to vibrate, its hydrogen atom (white) tugs oxygen atoms (red) from neighboring water molecules closer, before pushing them away, expanding the space between the molecules. This new view of an effect that’s thought to be behind many of water’s strange properties was created with SLAC’s MeV-UED “electron camera,” which blasts samples with short pulses of high-energy electrons to look inside. Credit Greg Stewart/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Usage Restrictions No restrictions. License Public Domain Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.