Superionic Ice: Scientists discover new form of water resembling black ice

For all these years, ice for a layman has just been water that turned solid in low temperatures. However, scientists from the University of Chicago and the Carnegie Institution of Washington in the US have created ice from a whole new method that uses high pressure rather than low temperature. As bizarre as it may sound, but according to the experts, this extreme form of ice might be present in alien worlds. 

How was this ice created?

Known as 'superionic ice', this form of frozen water does not depend on extremely low temperatures but rather on extremely high pressures. In simple terms, superionic ice is nothing but an arrangement of water molecules, where the oxygen atoms are surrounded by a pool of fidgety hydrogen atoms having a high rate of randomness. It is this property of the compound that makes it both liquid and solid at once.

Unique ice created using powerful laser 

The experts, who published their study in the journal Nature Physics, created this strange ice by using a powerful laser, as per Science Alert's report. The scientists reportedly trapped a drop of water between the grips of a diamond and cooked it using a powerful laser in an extremely high-pressure environment. This pressure is reportedly equal to what can be felt deep inside the Earth, near the core or in planets like Neptune. 

However, the scientists were able to create the ice at a much lower level of pressure than they were expecting. Initially, it was speculated that the squeezing of water would take at least 50 megapascals but the scientists were able to produce desired results with just 20. For scaling, 50 megapascals of pressure are half a million times higher than the pressure Earth's atmosphere is exerting on you right now. Science Alert reported geophysicist Vitali Prakapenka from the University of Chicago saying-

It was a surprise – everyone thought this phase wouldn't appear until you are at much higher pressures than where we first find it. But we were able to very accurately map the properties of this new ice, which constitutes a new phase of matter, thanks to several powerful tools.

The experts believe that by studying the behaviour of hydrogen atoms they would be able to determine their role in the formation of a planet's magnetosphere. Although, Prapneka said that the new ice needs a lot more study as its a new state of matter and acts as new material.

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