A mesmerising video shows the moment a water droplet bounces off a surface and is made to spin at more than 7,300 revolutions per minute (RPM).

The properties of a droplet change depending on what it hits and scientists have manipulated this process to make them gyrate.

Scientists say the findings could allow for future developments for hydro-energy collection, self-cleaning and anti-icing.

Researchers from the Institute of Chemistry, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, say the observed process opens up a promising avenue for the delicate control of liquid motion.

Huizeng Li and colleagues published the research in the journal Nature Communications and write in the abstract: 'Droplet impacting and bouncing off solid surface plays a vital role in various biological/ physiological processes and engineering applications.

'However, due to a lack of accurate control of force transmission, the manoeuvre of the droplet movement and energy conversion is rather primitive.

'Here we show that the translational motion of an impacting droplet can be converted to gyration, with a maximum rotational speed exceeding 7300 revolutions per minute.'

They successfully made the water droplet spin so rapidly by making a 'heterogeneous' surface.

This is formed of two separate (hetero comes from the Greek heteros which means 'the other') chemicals weaved together to make a single surface.

It alternates between 'sticky' regions and hydrophobic areas which repel the water.

This battle exerts a multitude of forces on the water as it hits the surface and instead of scattering randomly, as it would on a neutral surface, it behaves differently.

This manifests itself in what the researchers call 'non-axisymmetric pinning forces' which is the scientific terminology for different forces acting around a set axis on an object. (Mail Online)