Scientists Discover New Phase of Water, Known as 'Superionic Ice,' Inside Planets 18
Scientists have discovered a new phase of water -- adding to liquid, solid and gas -- know as "superionic ice." The "strange black" ice, as scientists called it, is normally created at the core of planets like Neptune and Uranus. From a report: In a study published in Nature Physics, a team of scientists co-led by Vitali Prakapenka, a University of Chicago research professor, detailed the extreme conditions necessary to produce this kind of ice. It had only been glimpsed once before, when scientists sent a massive shockwave through a droplet of water, creating superionic ice that only existed for an instant. In this experiment, the research team took a different approach. They pressed water between two diamonds, the hardest material on Earth, to reproduce the intense pressure that exists at the core of planets. Then, they used the Advanced Photon Source, or high-brightness X-ray beams, to shoot a laser through the diamonds to heat the water, according to the study.
"Imagine a cube, a lattice with oxygen atoms at the corners connected by hydrogen when it transforms into this new superionic phase, the lattice expands, allowing the hydrogen atoms to migrate around while the oxygen atoms remain steady in their positions," Prakapenka said in a press release. "It's kind of like a solid oxygen lattice sitting in an ocean of floating hydrogen atoms." Using an X-ray to look at the results, the team found the ice became less dense and was described as black in color because it interacted differently with light. "It's a new state of matter, so it basically acts as a new material, and it may be different from what we thought," Prakapenka said.
"Imagine a cube, a lattice with oxygen atoms at the corners connected by hydrogen when it transforms into this new superionic phase, the lattice expands, allowing the hydrogen atoms to migrate around while the oxygen atoms remain steady in their positions," Prakapenka said in a press release. "It's kind of like a solid oxygen lattice sitting in an ocean of floating hydrogen atoms." Using an X-ray to look at the results, the team found the ice became less dense and was described as black in color because it interacted differently with light. "It's a new state of matter, so it basically acts as a new material, and it may be different from what we thought," Prakapenka said.
Oddly enough... (Score:4, Interesting)
I just read about this concept in Surface Detail by Iain Banks, where an assault on the core of a water-planet was occurring
He went into great detail that this was a hot ice due to severe pressure that was pushing it into a slush/ice state
Hmmm, maybe he was just part of SC leaking ideas for us to emulate, I salute you Iain, wherever you have gone to
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Hehe, yeah I've wondered whether Banks might be Special Circumstances, I mean canonically the Culture exists right now and has visited Earth. But "new phases of ice" was central to Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle" way before Banks wrote about it.
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yes, Culture Series reads like recruitment pamphlets (in a good way)
It has been years since I read Cat's Cradle totally forgot about ice-nine
Stop messing with ice (Score:3)
Before you accidentally get ice-nine!
Re: Stop messing with ice (Score:1)
Lucky for us (Score:2)
Black Ice (Score:4, Funny)
> The "strange black" ice, as scientists called it
As a Canadian driver I've encountered this form of water long ago.
Re: (Score:2)
On Reddit, I would upvote this! Man, best comment I've seen in years on this site!
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Black Ice Preserves!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] /joke for those who don't understand it. Link is to a Key and Peele video.
I assume it's black because it is a good (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Which one is it? (Score:4, Interesting)
Which variant of ice [wikipedia.org] is it?
Based on the TFA, where they were expecting it at 50GPa, I'm going to go with Ice X (see the phase diagram in the link).
Re: (Score:3)
Going back and looking at my link, I'm changing my mind and going with Ice XVIII, which is listed as superionic.
Discovered or reproduced? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Good catch. Also, FWIW: TFA does not contain evidence that it was *found* inside a planet.
Good article. A few quotes that I found informative:
"
Unlike the familiar ice found in your freezer or at the north pole, superionic ice is black and hot. A cube of it would weigh four times as much as a normal one. It was first theoretically predicted more than 30 years ago, and although it has never been seen until now, scientists think it might be among the most abundant forms of water in the universe.
The oxygen atoms form a cubic lattice, but the hydrogen atoms spill free, flowing like a liquid through the rigid cage of oxygens.
Under extreme pressure and heat, the simulations suggested, water molecules break. With the oxygen atoms locked in a cubic lattice, “the hydrogens now start to jump from one position in the crystal to another, and jump again, and jump again,” said Millot. The jumps between lattice sites are so fast that the hydrogen atoms — which are ionized, making them essentially positively charged protons — appear to move like a liquid.
Depending on whom you ask, superionic ice is either another addition to water’s already cluttered array of avatars or something even stranger. Because its water molecules break apart, said the physicist Livia Bove of France’s National Center for Scientific Research and Pierre and Marie Curie University, it’s not quite a new phase of water. “It’s really a new state of matter,” she said, “which is rather spectacular.”
"
Diamonds, the hardest material on earth? (Score:4, Informative)