International News
An exotic phase of water, called Plastic Ice VII, which defies all conventions that are known about what we understand as water and ice, has been observed by researchers at the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, France. This ice emerges under extreme conditions of 6 gigapascals pressure and temperatures of 327°C (or 620°F).
This discovery was recently reported in the science journal, Nature, on February 12. This strange type of ice is known to be found deep in the oceans of distant planets such as Neptune or moons such as Europa (smallest of the four moons orbiting Jupiter). Scientists also believe that plastic ice may have existed during the early formational stages of icy moons in the solar system, such as Titan (the largest moon of Saturn), before all the water escaped from their high-pressure interiors.
This new discovery will go a long way in helping us better understand the behaviour of ice under extreme conditions and also open new avenues for research into the physical properties of water in various environments. Equally importantly, it will throw great light on our understanding of the processes that take place in other planets of the solar system and even beyond, some of which might be habitable.
It is called plastic ice because it is a unique hybrid form of water, exhibiting properties of both solid ice and liquid water when subjected to extreme pressure and temperature. According to experts, it can be more easily moulded than typical crystalline ice, a property known as plasticity (meaning it can be deformed without losing its structural integrity).
Most readers would be surprised to know that there are at least 20 other known ice phases that form in different pressure and temperature conditions. Plastic Ice VII is a polymorph with a dense, cubic structure in which molecules are ordered like cubes in a Rubik’s Cube. On the other hand, most of the ice on the Earth’s surface consists of water molecules arranged in a hexagonal lattice that resembles a honeycomb. Ice VII has also been found trapped in diamonds that have originated from the Earth’s mantle.
For several decades, different phases of ice have been theorized and computer simulations have been used to show the behaviour of molecules under extreme pressures and temperatures. In Ice VII, individual water molecules rotate freely when subjected to extreme heat and pressure, as if a liquid, while occupying fixed positions, as in a solid. While making the discovery at Institut Laue- Langevin, researchers used state-of-the-art instruments and techniques, such as Quasi-elastic neuron scattering (QENS) to decipher the subtle, staggered movements of hydrogen atoms within this exotic phase of ice. QENS unravels the miniscule motions of particles within substances—when beams of neutrons passed through Ice VII, they uncovered rotational movements of molecules in a staggered, deliberate manner, hinting at complex bond-breaking and forming within its structure.
This new discovery is likely to prove important in the design of future space missions, and develop more pointed strategies for searching for signs of life beyond Earth.
*Curated with reports from various sources on the internet.
