Scientists discover superionic ice that can only melt at extremely hot temperatures – Okezone techno

CALIFORNIA- As far as is known, ice originates from simple water molecules that remain in a fixed position as they freeze and melt in the face of rising temperatures. However, scientists have discovered ice with a high melting point that causes frozen water to remain solid even in the face of extreme heat and is known as superionic ice.

Reported by the site Scientific noticeOn Monday (10/16/2023) the existence and structure of superionic ice crystals was confirmed for the first time in 2019. Researchers from several US universities and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center laboratory in California (SLAC) then confirmed the existence of a new phase of superionic ice discovered last year.

This ice, which is believed to not only inhabit the interiors of Uranus and Neptune, was previously predicted to have a unique structure. Oxygen atoms in superionic ice are locked into a dense cubic lattice, while ionized hydrogen atoms are released and flow through the lattice like electrons through metal.

This is what underlies the conductive properties of superionic ice. Scientists have confirmed that increasing the melting point of ice causes frozen water to remain solid at very high temperatures.

Aside from that, the fact that this ice is found on exoplanets like Uranus and Neptune which have an extreme pressure equal to 2 million times that of Earth’s atmosphere and their interiors are as hot as the surface of the Sun, means that this pressure and temperature are involved in the research of this unique glacial phase. As was done in a recent study by physicist Arianna Gleason and colleagues at Stanford University.

“The recent discovery of a water-rich Neptune-like exoplanet requires a more detailed understanding of the phase diagram [air] under pressure-temperature conditions relevant to the planet’s interior,” Arianna Gleason and colleagues explained in their 2022 paper.

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