We all learned in school that there are three phase of water: solid, liquid, and gas. However, that may not be entirely true. As it turns out there be another, more exotic, phase of water and it may be extremely abundant throughout the Universe.
As Wired reports, “The findings, published this week in Nature, confirm the existence of “superionic ice,” a new phase of water with bizarre properties. Unlike the familiar ice found in your freezer or at the north pole, superionic ice is black and hot. A cube of it would weigh four times as much as a normal one. It was first theoretically predicted more than 30 years ago, and although it has never been seen until now, scientists think it might be among the most abundant forms of water in the universe.”
But what if there’s more to it than that? What if superionic ice isn’t a new phase of water at all?
“Depending on whom you ask, superionic ice is either another addition to water’s already cluttered array of avatars or something even stranger. Because its water molecules break apart, said the physicist Livia Bove of France’s National Center for Scientific Research and Pierre and Marie Curie University, it’s not quite a new phase of water. ‘It’s really a new state of matter,’ she said, ‘which is rather spectacular.’”
A new phase of matter? As astonishing as that would be, it’s not the first time that a new state of matter has been discovered. About a month ago National Geographic reported on another new type of matter.
“Now, a team has used a type of artificial intelligence to confirm the existence of a bizarre new state of matter, one in which potassium atoms exhibit properties of both a solid and a liquid at the same time. If you were somehow able to pull out a chunk of such material, it would probably look like a solid block leaking molten potassium that eventually all dissolved away.”
And these discoveries are likely just the tip of the iceberg. As our instruments and the tools at our disposal continue to improve we may discover even more exotic forms of matter. Meaning it won’t be long before we have to rewrite the textbooks once again.
Is Superionic Ice the Greatest Idea Ever?
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