Under normal circumstances there is water in three phases: fixed (ice), liquid (water) and gas (vapor or steam). This is what textbooks have taught us over the years, but beyond the realm of humanity inhabits the earth – in the alien world, a different form of water, called plastic ice cream VII, can be present. Various theoretical models in the past have predicted the presence of ‘plastic ice cream VII’, but for the first time scientists really have proof of their existence.
An international team of researchers from the Institut Laue-Langevin (Ill) in France has recently made plastic ice cream VII by squeezing water into a pressure of 6 gigapascal and it to be heated to temperatures up to 327c (620f), with the help of Hoogkaliber instruments, according to the study published Nature.
The research team used quasi-elastic neutron scattering (Qens), a method that follows the movement of small particles such as hydrogen atoms. This confirmed a 17-year-old prediction that hydrogens within ice VII run on a microscopic level when they are subject to high temperatures and pressure.
“The ability of Qens to investigate both translational and rotation dynamics is a unique advantage for exploring such an exotic phase transitions compared to other spectroscopic techniques,” said physicist Maria Rescigno associated with the study.
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Plastic ice cream VII has properties of both liquid water and fixed ice, hence the name. It has a unique intertwined structure when the hydrogen atoms are somewhat unordered.
“The Qens measurements suggested another molecular rotation mechanism for plastic ice cream VII then initially the free rotor behavior,” Mrs Rescigno added.
However, it remains unclear what happens to this structure when it ‘melts’, with some theories that suggest that the molecules stay in place while the hydrogen atoms move.
According to the researchers, even the icy planets in our solar system, such as Neptune, Uranus or Jupiter’s Moon Europe, possibly kept plastic ice cream VII in the past. The findings can further help in understanding the geodynamics of icy planets and the differentiation processes of large icy moons.