The enigmatic outer solar system planets may harbor a strange form of water ice that is simultaneously a liquid and a solid. Now, researchers have created this odd “superionic water” here on Earth.
The experiment adds weight to a theory that superionic ice, which can conduct electricity like metal does, may explain the lopsided magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune. The researchers describe their findings in a study published this week in the journal Nature Physics.
Researchers probing water’s structural properties have found almost 20 different forms of ice crystals, with water molecules arranged in configurations from disordered to hexagonal to cubic.
Superionic ice’s water molecules are packed together so tightly that their oxygen atoms form a rigid lattice, Change writes. The hydrogen atoms, carrying a positive charge, are then free to flow through it. The flowing hydrogen ions can also carry electrical current.
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The experiment adds weight to a theory that superionic ice, which can conduct electricity like metal does, may explain the lopsided magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune. The researchers describe their findings in a study published this week in the journal Nature Physics.
Researchers probing water’s structural properties have found almost 20 different forms of ice crystals, with water molecules arranged in configurations from disordered to hexagonal to cubic.
Superionic ice’s water molecules are packed together so tightly that their oxygen atoms form a rigid lattice, Change writes. The hydrogen atoms, carrying a positive charge, are then free to flow through it. The flowing hydrogen ions can also carry electrical current.
Source