Archived News Release: February 27, 2023 - Water is basic, elemental. It's essential for all forms of known life, covers more than 70% of the earth's surface and can take liquid, solid and gaseous forms. However, water has a lot more to tell us.
Did you know water can dissolve more substances than any other liquid including sulfuric acid? Did you know that water could be manipulated to exist as a solid and liquid, simultaneously? Did you know that water can exist in 19 different forms?
Recently scientists at University College in London discovered that there was a 20th form of water. In an experiment, ice was placed in a container at -360 F, moved at speed and crushed by steel balls. When examined, the scientists discovered the ice had taken on a new molecular form. Their findings could be vital in understanding how water is stored on moons and planets in our solar system, as a recent New York Times article explained:
"That means perhaps the physics of the new ice could play a role in the shaping of the icy crust of Europa and the dynamics of ice farther down in the moon's ocean, with implications for whether conditions there could be hospitable for life."
Just when you thought you knew H2O.
