New type of ice

2007/02/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Fisika

The belief that in extreme conditions water could form exotic compounds has long existed within scientists. While researching new ways to get hydrogen from water, they discovered a new type of ice at the Carnegie organization in Washington. It is a crystalline solid of high energy formed by hydrogen and molecular oxygen, different from the 17 types of ice known to date.

For the formation of this ice, the water was put to high pressure by a diamond anvil and bombarded with high-energy X-rays. Consequently, the molecules were distributed into atoms and reorganized _into the unknown combination of _O2 and H2. The key is the energy levels of the X-rays used, as if more or less energy were used they would not achieve this result. The energy range required for the formation of this compound is additionally narrow, which could be due to the fact that so far this type of ice had not been found.