Scientists at the Laser Energetics Laboratory in Brighton, New York used a powerful laser to create shock waves in a drop of water. As a result, the temperature was rising to thousands of degrees. Along with this, there was a huge pressure in the atmosphere.
X-rays reveal that atoms in water droplets freeze solid to form crystalline ice. The ice produced is characterized as superionic. It is said that this is a new phase of water.
Its properties are not like regular ice. It will look black and the temperature will feel hotter. Scientists made such predictions more than 30 years ago. However, this is the first time such a feature is being observed.
Scientists believe that planets like Uranus and Neptune have abundant water. Superionic ice stands out among the other 18 known architectures of ice crystals.
A unique feature of superionic ice is that the water molecules here break up. Here the hydrogen atoms break free and something like liquid flows through the oxygen.
This causes one part of the superionic ice to become solid and the other part to become partially liquid. Such a state of matter has never been seen before. As a result, the prediction of superionic ice proved true.
Physicists have been trying to find superionic ice for years. A computer simulation of this was done in 1988. The breakthrough discovery of superionic ice will have a very significant role in our understanding of the state of the universe and water.
Under extreme pressure and heat, superionic water breaks down and is able to conduct electricity like a metal. Also, such icy hydrogens are able to play normal roles according to electrons.