Scientists Discovered an Inexplicable New Kind of Ice. It Gets Hot Enough to Melt Steel.

Key Points:

• Scientists in France have discovered a new form of superionic ice called hexagonal close-packed (hcp) ice, which forms under extremely high pressures and temperatures, potentially earning the designation Ice XXIII.
• This ice features oxygen atoms locked in a crystalline lattice with freely moving, electrically charged hydrogen atoms, differing from previously known superionic ice phases like Ice XVIII.
• The discovery was made using diamond-anvil cells and x-ray beams at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, with pressures reaching up to 230 gigapascals and temperatures over 2600 K.
• The existence of hcp ice may help explain the unusual, non-axisymmetric magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune, as it could form a layer within their superionic mantles affecting their magnetic dynamics.
• Researchers suggest this finding will prompt further studies into the mechanical and electrical properties of hcp ice, which could reshape models of ice giant interiors.