New Form of Ice Discovered Redefining the Properties of Water at High Pressures

A new study by NLV researchers recently showed implications for the insight of distant, water-rich planets.

Specifically, a SciTechDaily report specified that the study authors had found a new form of ice that redefines the properties of water at high pressures.

Essentially, solid water or ice is like many other materials. It can substitute for various solid materials according to variable temperatures and pressure conditions, such as the formation of diamond or graphite.

Nevertheless, water is remarkable as there are approximately 20 solid forms of ice known to many.

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(Photo: Pixabay)
Solid water or ice is like many other materials. It can provide for various solid materials according to variable temperatures and pressure conditions, such as the formation of diamond or graphite.

Properties of Water Under High Pressure

A team of researchers working in UNLV's Nevada Extreme Conditions Lb pioneered a new approach for gauging the properties of water under high pressure. The water specimen was initially squeezed between the tips of a pair of opposite-facing diamonds, freezing into numerous jumbled ice crystals.

The ice was then subjected to a laser-heating approach that melted it temporarily before it rapidly reformed into a powder-like collection of small crystals.

By incrementally increasing the pressure and periodically blasting it using the laser beam, the scientists observed the water ice transition from a known cubic phase called Ice-VII to the newly found intermediate, and tetragonal phase, Ice VIIt, before it settled into Ice-X, another known phase.

New Phase of Ice Found on the Earth's Surface

UNLV Ph.D. Zach Grande led the research published in Physical Review B, which showed that the transition to Ice-X, when water aggressively stiffens, takes place at much lower pressures than previously thought.

While it is unlikely this new phase of ice is found anywhere on the Earth's surface, it is possible a common ingredient within this planet's mantle and in large moons and water-rich planets beyond the solar system. The researchers had been working to understand the high-pressure water's behavior that may have existed in the interior of distant planets.

To do so, UNLV physicists Ashkan Salamat and Grande placed a specimen of water between the tips of two round-shaped diamonds identified as "anvil cells," a regular feature in the field of high-pressure physics.

First-of-Its-Kind Laser-Heating Method

Applying a small bit of force to the diamonds allowed the scientists to redevelop pressures as high as those at the center of this planet. A similar Verified News Explorer Channel report said that by squeezing the water sample between the diamonds, the researchers drove the oxygen and hydrogen atoms into an assortment of different arrangements, including the newly-discovered arrangement called Ice-VIIt.

Not only did the first-of-its-kind laser-heating method enables researchers to observe a new phase of water ice, but the team also discovered that the transition to Ice-X took place at pressures almost thrice lower than previously thought, at 30,000 atmospheres, rather than one million. Such a transition has been a highly talked about topic for many decades.

The work of Zach demonstrated that this transformation to an iconic state takes place at much, much lower pressures than what was ever thought before, explained Salamat. It is the missing piece and the most accurate measurement of the water at certain conditions. 

In addition, the work recalibrates as well, the understanding of the construction of exoplanets, added Salamat. Scientists have hypothesized that the Ice-VIIt phase of ice could exist abundantly in the crust and upper mantle of expected water-rich planets outside the solar system, which means, they could have circumstances habitable for life.

Report about this discovery is shown on UK News World's YouTube video below:

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