Scientists Discover New Type of Ice
A mysterious new form of ice has been discovered by scientists. When a drop of water was squeezed between two diamonds at extremely high pressures, it solidified into a new crystalline phase at room temperature.
This new structure, called ice XXI, was discovered by researchers led by Geun Woo Lee at the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) in collaboration with scientists at the European XFEL and DESY in Germany.
Ice XXI is the twenty-first form of ice ever identified, joining a diverse range of structures that emerge under unique combinations of temperature and pressure, including hexagonal, cubic, amorphous, and superionic.
Water's solid state is far more diverse than anything found in a freezer.
Author's summary: Scientists discover new ice type, expanding water's strange world.