What would a bucket of HIV look like?

[leroyjenkens]

If you had a bucket full of billions of HIV viruses, or any virus for that matter (not sure if the type of virus would make a difference), what would it look like? Would it be a liquid? Or a powder? Or a gel? I doubt it would be a solid or a gas. Is there any way to know? Could we ever get enough viruses together to know what it would look like in a large group? Maybe this would be a physics question.

 

[Simon Bridge]

We know what viruses look like in a large group - we grow them in the lab.
Go look.

Of course "large" is somewhat smaller than a "bucket".

You should be able to work out what sort of thing to expect though ... generally a virus is a strip of DNA surrounded by a protein and, maybe, some lipids. So what would a bucket of protein and fat look like?

 

[jim mcnamara]

Tobacco Mosaic Virus in huge quantities are fine, brownish green crystals. Plant Pathology at the University of Maryland had some on display back in the early 1960's.

Cannot find a picture on the net.