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Gelled ice is the lightest form of water

16.09.2017

The ice cubes you take out of your freezer are just one of 17 types of ice known to scientists today. But now scientists at Okayama University in Japan are working on another, 18th form of ice, which will be the lightest form of water to date. Studying samples of "airold", a kind of icy airgel, will allow scientists to figure out some of the subtleties of the behavior of water placed in extreme environmental conditions.

Normal ice is obtained by cooling water at normal atmospheric pressure, while the water molecules form a crystal lattice with a hexagonal cell. However, the level of pressure and the rate of temperature change can cause water molecules to form a crystal lattice other than a hexagonal one; so-called cubic ice forms quite often in the Earth's atmosphere. And even more exotic forms of ice can form in the atmospheres of other planets.

When the pressure rises at the moment of freezing, ice is formed with a density exceeding that of normal ice. Naturally, as the pressure decreases, less dense ice begins to form, the structure of which resembles "ice cotton candy". At present, only two forms of low-density ice have been known to scientists, which have a density of 50 and 90 percent of that of normal ice.

The scientists made a number of calculations that used more than 300 types of nanostructures, consisting of water molecules, which can form under low pressure conditions. According to the results obtained, all crystals of such ice retain their stability only at a temperature approaching the temperature of absolute zero; as the temperature rises, the crystals lose their stability, which leads to a change in their structure. The least dense form of ice has a structure, the nodes of which are connected by rather long "sticks" of water molecules. Between the nodes there is a large empty space filled with air, which determines the extremely low density of such a material as a whole.

Computer modeling will allow you to find countless forms of ice. However, obtaining samples of such ice is associated with many difficulties due to the low pressure and extremely low temperatures at which such ice can form and exist. "Our calculations have given us a target for further research. Soon we will calculate the entire required range of environmental conditions and try to obtain the first samples of new forms of ice, the study of which will help us understand the behavior of water molecules in extreme conditions."

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