Scientists Create a New Form of Ice that Resembles Liquid Water

A novel type of ice that closely resembles liquid water than any other has been discovered by scientists at the University of Cambridge and University College London. This type of ice may provide a "rippling effect" in understanding the key components of this liquid.

Amorphous Ice

This new form of ice is amorphous, according to the research team's press release on Feb. 2.

Amorphous ice has disorganized molecules and a liquid-like appearance, compared to typical crystalline ice, which has molecules that arrange themselves in a regular pattern.

In an experiment, the team produced a novel type of amorphous ice, and through computer modeling, they could generate an atomic-scale model of it.

The experiments employed a method known as ball-milling, which entails putting metal balls in a steel container to grind crystalline ice into microscopic particles. Although it is frequently employed to create amorphous materials, ice has never been subjected to ball-milling.

The researchers discovered that ball-milling produced an amorphous type of ice with a density comparable to liquid water and a condition that resembled water in solid form. Their novel ice was given the name medium-density amorphous ice (MDA).

They used computational simulation to comprehend the mechanism at the molecular level. They successfully developed the MDA model by repeated random shearing of crystalline ice to replicate the ball-milling process.

"Our discovery of MDA raises many questions on the very nature of liquid water and so understanding MDA's precise atomic structure is very important," co-author Dr. Michael Davies said in a statement.

He noted that they found remarkable similarities between MDA and liquid water.

High- and Low-density Amorphous Ice

It has been proposed that amorphous ices serve as models for liquid water. Amorphous ice has historically been divided into two primary categories: high-density and low-density amorphous ice.

The names imply that there is a significant density difference between them. Understanding liquid water has been based on this density gap as well as the fact that liquid water has a mid-density.

It has contributed to the idea that water is made up of two different liquids, one with a high density and the other with a low density.

The question of whether MDA may exist in nature is raised by its discovery. In this investigation, it was discovered that shear forces are essential for producing MDA.

The team hypothesizes that because of the tidal forces generated by gas giants like Jupiter, ordinary ice might experience similar shear forces in ice moons.

Additionally, MDA exhibits a stunning quality that is unique from other types of ice. They discovered via calorimetry that MDA releases a remarkable amount of heat as it recrystallizes to normal ice.

The heat produced by MDA's recrystallization may contribute to the tectonic motions. This finding may demonstrate that water can be a high-energy geophysical substance.

"Amorphous ice in general is said to be the most abundant form of water in the universe. The race is now on to understand how much of it is MDA and how geophysically active MDA is," lead author Professor Angelos Michaelides said in a statement.

The findings of the study were published in the journal Science.