In France, researchers observed a new ice structure under temperatures above 2,000 degrees and pressures of 2.3 million atmospheres.
A team led by Dr. Alexis Forestier from the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission subjected water samples to pressures of up to 230 gigapascals (2.3 million times Earth's atmospheric pressure) by compressing them between diamond tips in the laboratory, while simultaneously heating them with lasers to 2,357 degrees (2,630 Kelvin). It was determined that the water, which could not evaporate due to extreme pressure, transformed into a 'tightly packed hexagonal' superionic ice structure, known theoretically but unproven until now.
'COULD UNLOCK THE MYSTERY OF URANUS AND NEPTUNE'
In this unusual phase of matter, water behaves neither as a solid nor as a liquid. It was reported that oxygen atoms remain fixed within a solid lattice, while hydrogen particles move freely like a liquid.
Researchers stated that the findings are significant enough to alter models of planets in the Solar System. It was suggested that the superionic ice structure might be present in the cores of ice giant planets like Uranus and Neptune, and that this structure could help explain the formation of complex and asymmetric magnetic fields on these planets.
