Water: Greatest or the weirdest liquid on Earth?

Water is transparent, it is in the rain, snow, steam, oceans, rivers, and at most of the places on Earth. Water is life support for the entire living kingdom and the third most abundant molecule in the universe. This is the view held by half of the population and term water as “boring”. The other half of the world thinks of it as a magical liquid used in homeopathy and some practices like water memory, polywater, structured water. But water is turning out to be stranger than we could have ever imagined.

From steam to ice, water continues to mystify.

– Richard Saykally

Scientists and researchers have observed the deceptive and complex nature of water molecules. Some astounding faces of water have been revealed that were unknown for ages. With the discovery of unusual forms of water, secrets of icy planets like Neptune and Uranus can be predicted. Water has at least 66 properties that are different than most of the liquids. Ice the solid form of water exists in different forms based on various arrangements of its constituents.

Molecular observations of water show that its molecule consists of 2 hydrogen atoms bonded to an oxygen atom and this makes it a highly polar molecule, thanks to the large electronegativity difference between hydrogen and oxygen.

As a result, hydrogen bonds are formed and molecules tend to stay closer and this what makes water a wet liquid. Apart from these facts, water has some more unique qualities that are not so common among other liquids. Ice, a solid form of water, does not melt the way we thought it did. Instead of melting all at once, in a sort of continuous process, it goes layer by layer. The top layer is just 45 nm thick, which measures 1\1000 the thickness of human hair. A new study shows that water is not liquid even at -38 ℃. Below are more such revelations that make water a bizarre liquid:

Two different phases of water

Researchers at Stockholm University, Sweden discovered that the water we love and know exists in two different phases and not as a single liquid. The two phases are said to differ in density and structure and what we see under normal conditions is a fluctuation between the two phases. Until now, ice was known to exhibit different density and structures. Although most of the people are not familiar with the fact that most of the ice around us is its amorphous form and the other being crystalline has more orderly arrangements of molecules.

These forms of ice tend to switch between high and low density and this is what suspected scientists that the liquid form of water could show similar behavior.

The remarkable property found in the research was two different phases of water at low temperatures where the crystallisation of water is slow. Two different types of X rays were engaged in the experiment to find the distance between the H₂O molecule and its movement during the transition of the molecule from an amorphous, glassy, frozen liquid state, to a viscous liquid, and then another, even more, viscous liquid with lower density.

Even the pioneer of X-ray, Wilhelm Röntgen found evidence for two different phases of water and stated that fluctuations between the two can give rise to strange properties. These results give us an overall understanding of behavior of water at different temperatures and pressures as well as the affect of salts and biomolecules that support life. In view of global climate change, purification and desalination of water would be a major challenge.

Black and hot form of ice

Scientists have discovered a new form of ice using diamonds and some ultra-powerful lasers. Ice is known to exist in 17 different forms but the 18th form has surprised the scientists. Instead of being white and hard, this form is black and hot, according to a computer model predicted in 1988. The simulation suggested a new form of ice occurs at temperatures as high as 2000 K and pressures above 100 GPa. Such extreme conditions rip the hydrogen atoms off their oxygen mates. Hydrogen atoms lose electrons and become positively charged protons.

These protons flow through the cubic lattice packing of oxygen atoms like a liquid. A high concentration of freed protons can conduct electricity possibly like arsenic or graphite, only differing in the charge carriers. Predicting such a superionic model of ice on an old computer is one thing, but observing practically is quite another. To create such a form of ice, scientists compressed water molecules between diamonds to build up pressure and blasted it with six highly powerful lasers.

Lasers were used in timed pulses fashion to avoid exceeding the predicted melting point of this ice form. Laser pulses explosively vaporized the diamonds containing the water creating a massive spike in temperature and pressure. To find out what happens during the peak in pressure and temperature, scientists shot 16 more lasers beams on a piece of iron which vaporized and sent X rays through the water. Based on the data obtained from X-ray diffraction, scientists confirmed the formation of cubic lattice arrangements of oxygen atoms which matched with the prediction of the 1988 computer model.

Ice XVIII has become prime interest of planetary scientist, because icy giant planets like Uranus and Neptune have the condition for ice XVIII to exist. It could explain odd phenomena that take place on these planets, like the shape of magnetic fields. Earth and some other planets have magnetic field similar to that of a bar magnet, apparently due to the conducting matter swirling inside the core. But these icy planets have lumpy magnetic field with multiple poles that suggest interior made up of ice 18. Although, a lot of research work is needed to support this theory and study other molecules like methane and4 ammonia present on these planets.

This is not all with the weirdness of water. Read more bizzare things about water on thehavok.com in further posts.