Researchers discover a new kind of water ice
Researchers have discovered a new kind of water ice that appears to match the density and structure of liquid water.
he ice is called medium-density amorphous ice. The team that created it, led by Alexander Rosu-Finsen at University College London (UCL), shook regular ice in a small container with centimetre-wide stainless-steel balls at temperatures of –200 ˚C to produce the variant, which has never been seen before. The ice appeared as a white granular powder that stuck to the metal balls. The findings were published today in Science.
The abstract for the paper can be read here.
Not only does this discovery suggest that there are many possible states of water ice, with a range of properties, this new type of ice could help explain many of the features we see on planets like Mars that appear to have been caused by flowing water. Mars has a lot of glacial ice, much of which might not be ice as we assume.
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Researchers have discovered a new kind of water ice that appears to match the density and structure of liquid water.
he ice is called medium-density amorphous ice. The team that created it, led by Alexander Rosu-Finsen at University College London (UCL), shook regular ice in a small container with centimetre-wide stainless-steel balls at temperatures of –200 ˚C to produce the variant, which has never been seen before. The ice appeared as a white granular powder that stuck to the metal balls. The findings were published today in Science.
The abstract for the paper can be read here.
Not only does this discovery suggest that there are many possible states of water ice, with a range of properties, this new type of ice could help explain many of the features we see on planets like Mars that appear to have been caused by flowing water. Mars has a lot of glacial ice, much of which might not be ice as we assume.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
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Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Phase diagrams might tell us more. Solid, liquid, gas in this case. Something else awaits ?
Such as ‘cubic zircon’ did.
Just wondering.
I hope it’s not ICE-NINE
There actually is an ice-9—but it isn’t Kurt’s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_IX
Sodium Acetate is the closest I’ve seen in terms of a tiny bit solidifying its neighbor materials
Ice-7 is interesting
https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/10/weird-water-phase-ice-vii-can-grow-as-fast-as-1000-miles-per-hour/
Dark Matter may be like ICE-9
https://www.livescience.com/dark-matter-multiplies-cosmic-ice-9
https://engineeringandbeyond.wordpress.com/tag/ice-nine/
https://www.askamathematician.com/2012/11/q-could-kurt-vonegets-ice-9-catastrophy-happen/
Polymers can do wonders
https://phys.org/news/2018-10-vouching-vonnegut-polymer-room-temperature.html
http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=415
Bacteria’s version
https://scienceblogs.com/deanscorner/2012/02/19/bacterial-ice-9
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/1074552195900748
I think there was a drug that could flip the handededness of a similar substance
/
https://slate.com/technology/2013/11/polywater-history-and-science-mistakes-the-u-s-and-ussr-raced-to-create-a-new-form-of-water.html
I think
Lots of links Jeff – thanks
This type of ice appears to be the reverse of the behavior we saw in liquid cloud water (i.e., fog).
Hall, Chris M., et al. “Anomalous noble gas solubility in liquid cloud water: Possible implications for noble gas temperatures and cloud physics.” Water Resources Research 57.12 (2021): e2020WR029306.
Fog seems to act as if it is liquid inside, but has a coating of an ice-like structure. This was found because of the strange differences in the solubilities of the different noble gases. We speculated that the “skin” of ice-like structure is formed because of the difference in density between the two states of water, combined with the large pressure gradient induced by surface tension. This might cause ice-like domains to “float” to the surface of fog particles.
“It’s ice, Jim, but not as we know it.”