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posted by janrinok on Tuesday February 06 2018, @09:54PM   Printer-friendly
from the blowing-hot-and-cold dept.

Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have found experimental evidence for superionic ice that exists only at extremely high temperatures and pressures:

One of the most intriguing properties of water is that it may become superionic when heated to several thousand degrees at high pressure, similar to the conditions inside giant planets like Uranus and Neptune. This exotic state of water is characterized by liquid-like hydrogen ions moving within a solid lattice of oxygen.

Since this was first predicted in 1988, many research groups in the field have confirmed and refined numerical simulations, while others used static compression techniques to explore the phase diagram of water at high pressure. While indirect signatures were observed, no research group has been able to identify experimental evidence for superionic water ice -- until now.

In a paper published today by Nature Physics [DOI: 10.1038/s41567-017-0017-4] [DX], a research team from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Rochester provides experimental evidence for superionic conduction in water ice at planetary interior conditions, verifying the 30-year-old prediction.

Using shock compression, the team identified thermodynamic signatures showing that ice melts near 5000 Kelvin (K) at 200 gigapascals (GPa -- 2 million times Earth's atmosphere) -- 4000 K higher than the melting point at 0.5 megabar (Mbar) and almost the surface temperature of the sun.

Also at Laboratory Equipment.


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 06 2018, @11:51PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 06 2018, @11:51PM (#634193)

    Icy Uranus won't open his man-pussy.

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