The international research team first confirmed the experimental existence of Ice VII – a rare form of water, which could survive in the oceans on the planet. The work is published in Nature magazine.
So far, this period is only predicted by theoretical models, but now scientists have been able to create it in the laboratory. To do this, they pressed the water to the pressure of 6 gigapaccans and heated it up to 327 ° C. Research on the changes that are performed by using powerful tools at the Langeven Institute in France.
Ice VII has a block structure, but when he is heated, the molecules work abnormally: hydrogen atoms began to spin, but not free, as before, but spasms. This behavior, recorded by the almost neutron scattering method, the scientists explain the characteristics of the connections between molecules.
This study is important not only to understand the properties of water in harsh conditions, but also to study the ice world in the universe. Perhaps in the past, such ice has existed on satellites of Jupiter, like Europe, or on Neptune.
Scientists also intend to study the mechanism of moving water to this period and check the hypotheses that Ice VII may be the predecessor of the state even more strange – Superion, in which hydrogen moves freely. Inside the oxygen mesh.