Water's atomic structure warps under pressure like that on alien worlds
New study observes changes in water's crystal structure under pressures exceeding 222 gigapascals.
A new study published in Communications Chemistry appears to be the first to observe in a laboratory a transformation in water's atomic structure under extreme pressure, shedding light on the behavior of water on planets such as Uranus and Neptune. The researchers used a tiny water droplet between diamond tips to apply pressures beyond 222 gigapascals, about 2.2 million times the pressure we feel walking around on Earth.