Could Water Have a Fourth Phase?
- Posted on November 11, 2011 at 2:12pm by
Liz Klimas
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We’re all taught that there are three phases to water: solid, liquid and gas. But scientists are saying there may be a fourth.
According to Discovery News, water’s fourth phase is a state with both the properties of liquid water and ice. What? Here’s more:
Researchers Pradeep Kumar and H. Eugene Stanley used a computer simulation to model the elusive liquid. They found that at about 54 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, the local structure of water seems to become extremely ordered, like ice, while undergoing sharp but continuous structural changes and remaining liquid.
Oddly, at this temperature the water also became more conductive of heat, the opposite of what happens with regular liquid water and ice, as anyone living in an igloo will tell you.
The strange behavior of water at low temperatures is what led Stanley and Kumar to believe that their results support the idea that water has a fourth phase.
PhysOrg reports the researchers as believing these surprising results support the idea of a “liquid-liquid phase transition“.
Still, third graders will probably not be learning about this fourth, more complex state of water, because lab equipment is not sensitive enough to observe the transition from liquid to solid ice, according to Discovery News.
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thered
Posted on November 16, 2011 at 1:32pmIce ice baby
Report Post »sbenard
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 10:26pmThis article is the Village of Arcane!
Report Post »webpreacher
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 6:56pmHere is an interesting truth about H2O, it is one of only a few elements that can not be destroyed, and or depleted. There is the same amount of water today in our world as there was When God created the world. Also, water existed right at the beginning, there is not a Genesis account of When God actually created water. It is first mentioned in Genesis 1:2 “And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (plural), this is not the account of it being created, only that it had already existed. There is something spiritual with regards to “water”. which can be seen all throughout Holy Scripture, The Bible KJV,
Report Post »Brady
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 12:58amActually, water destroys itself while in a liquid form. Go as a chemist. H2O actually breaks up into H+, OH-, and some H3O. Water is not some monotone juice where every molecule is H20, because of its hydrogen bonds, it actually separates and is in a constant state of flux. But yes preach, water can be “destroyed” and “created,” that’s not very hard to do.
I wonder though if this state of water is like the solid-liquid version of a supercritical liquid. (which is like the liquid-gas version of this). a supercritical liquid is when it get hot enough, but there is too much pressure for, a liquid to boil and become a vapor. because it is hot enough to be a vapor, but the pressure keeps it liquid, a supercritical liquid shares traits with both liquid and gases. I certainly see how the two could be similar situations with different phases!
Report Post »OldOllie
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 2:42amWater is “created” and “destroyed” continuously. Plants use solar energy to break water into its constituent hydrogen and oxygen during photosynthesis and combine them with CO2 to make carbohydrates and free oxygen. Oxidation processes such as fire or animal metabolism convert them back into water and CO2 releasing that energy. At various times in Earth’s history, there have been greater and lesser quantities of water as the total biomass fluctuates.
Report Post »AgentP
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 2:12pmI was thinking the same as Brady on the phase.
I think the most interesting thing about water is that it gets lighter, or more buoyant in its solid phase. The opposite behavior to most other substances without which we would not be.
Report Post »Cainin
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 4:41pmShades of Kurt Vonnegut! Doesn’t anyone remember Ice 9?
Report Post »Cesium
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 11:35pmThe best is at the end of Cat’s Cradle where the last person alive on earth, dies flipping off the non-existent god
Report Post »Old Truckers
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 2:14pmWho created water with its seemly simple, yet very complex properties?
Was it an accident?
Report Post »13th Imam
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 3:01pmAl Gore
Report Post »the point
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 9:24amThe obama administration will probably give one of obama’s “friends ” a few million dollars to study this .
Report Post »mdavid
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 12:00amGet with the times Blaze. Ice alone has 15 phases. It’s good that you cited your source, but I sense the source also didn’t bother to do its homework beyond the announcement by those researchers.
My favorite is super viscosity which happens at 2 degrees kelvin. At 2 degrees above absolute zero water returns to liquid and takes on a life of its own. When seemingly at rest in a glass bowl, water will begin to climb out of the bowl dribble down the side and collect on the underside. There are youtube videos of this.
Report Post »Starkadder
Posted on November 12, 2011 at 2:55pmI thought the fourth state of matter was plasma.
Report Post »Am I mistaken?
Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on November 12, 2011 at 4:33pmIonized plasma is a fourth state of matter yes on the scale of solid – liquid – gas – plasma; there has been some research doen even into possible fifth and sixth states of matter (a few years ago).
I think what they are refering to here should be called a fourth STAGE of water — vapor, liquid, ice, and this new one which holds many similarities to glass in and of itself (glass is in reality a very slow flowing liquid with movement measured in years for partial increments of distance.)
Still it is very interesting and exciting.
Report Post »OldOllie
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 2:51amBy the time it becomes plasma, the bonds between the hydrogen and oxygen have long since been broken by high temperature, and it’s no longer water. In fact, as it gets hotter, it’s no longer even molecular H2 and O2 as those bonds have broken as well. Then there there are a number of excited states and ionized states of the H and O atoms as the electrons start moving to higher energy levels at higher temperatures till one by one, they are stripped completely away from the nuclei. When all the electrons are detached from the nuclei, then you have plasma.
Report Post »DrFrost
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 1:07pmAh… plasma…
Atoms of the ‘verse unite and throw off your electron overlords!
Report Post »Secessionista
Posted on November 12, 2011 at 2:31pmWater is not liquid at -54F, regardless of what the reporter says.
Report Post »Starkadder
Posted on November 12, 2011 at 3:04pmFollow the link, its intensly pressurized deep ocean water. Under pressure, water will remain liquid well below 32 Deg F
Report Post »simplygilly
Posted on November 12, 2011 at 3:39pmIf warm water rises, why does ice form at the top of a body of water? If the water were warmer under the ice, it would constantly be melting the ice from beneath. The fact is, unless there are extraordinary movement of the water, water beneath the ice is below freezing. Pressure lowers the temperature at which water will freeze. Ever ice fish, even at an air temperature above freezing? When a fish is pulled out of the water, it freezes solid in a matter of minutes because it’s body temperature is below freezing and the pressure has been reduced to atmospheric.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on November 12, 2011 at 4:37pm@Stark adder — exactly, this is the same principle on why locations of pools and regions of methane hydrate have been discovered in the oceanic floors. Pressure and temperatures of extreme cold keep it in a state of near solid-liquid along the lines of with the water.
This is a similiar theory, in form, in which the Gas Giants (Jupiter, etc) are believed to have cores of hydrogen or helium in a “metalic liquid-solid state” in which pressure wants to make it solid, and the heat generated keeps it in a type of molten state.
Facinating.
Report Post »TheGreyPiper
Posted on November 12, 2011 at 11:45pmEven at atmospheric pressure, it is possible to cool pure water well below freezing – it is strictly a lab trick requiring complete stillness and a certain rate of cooling. It will stay liquid, but then the slightest disturbance will cause the entire quantity to freeze instantly!
Report Post »MEDICINE TO THE DEAD
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 9:26am@ TheGreyPiper
I have seen this done with a Corona beer. You can put the glass beer in the freezer, take it out very carefully and it will be liquid. If you give it a small tap, it will instantly freeze solid, which it neat to watch but then your out a beer until it thaws.You can probably find a youtube vid too.
Report Post »Coyote6
Posted on November 12, 2011 at 11:04amWhat could this mean for man kind? Polar bear kind?
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on November 12, 2011 at 4:42pmLook at the reference they give about the igloo, drawing in more heat and not melting even though it is made of ice. I can envision a time where someone will make the breakthrough that allows homes in colder climates to have materials in insulation and construction that allows for ambient heat in the colder months to be drawn in, and keeping the cold out…this could aid in the reduction dramatically of need for winter usage of heating systems.
For warmer climates, it may be possible to find a mirror opposite where in summer conditions, the ambient heat of a household is drawn out of a place, saving the cooling costs to a significant degree.
Third usage, people/troops exposed to cold conditions in various regions of the world; development of materials working on the same lines aiding with insulation, and maybe with more efficient treatment of cold exposure and frostbite.
Report Post »Cat
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 6:14amSnow;
There are materials used today that do those things
Brick flooring
Low-E glass
Reflective exterior panels
Stucco
Wood roof shingles
Used in the correct combination, they can provide cozy living quarters using less energy
Has anybody thought about H2O at absolute zero?
Report Post »Wildcaveman
Posted on November 12, 2011 at 9:11amWhy does everyone forget about the Bose-Einstien concentrate. That was discovered years ago.
Report Post »Lloyd Drako
Posted on November 12, 2011 at 11:58amI think the Bose-Einstein condensate only appears much closer to absolute zero, way lower anyhow than -54 Fahrenheit. It is not a state of water but a state of some sort of gas whose atoms are bosonic, that is, capable of occupying the same quantum state at the same time. The math escapes me but it’s pretty cool (so to speak). Just clarifyin’.
Report Post »Wildcaveman
Posted on November 12, 2011 at 9:07amWhy do people always forget about the Bose-Einstien concentrate? That was a forth stage of matter discovered years ago.
Report Post »Profx72
Posted on November 12, 2011 at 6:52amActually, this “Fourth Phase” conclusion makes some sense. I mean, have you ever heard an understandable explanation for Glacial Ice Movement? If there is a “Fourth Phase” of water that is both solid and liquid, the shifting of this semi-solid would facilitate such movement. I‘m not suggesting that I’d like to see a multi-billion dollar study on the subject, but, you have to admit, it makes some sense.
Report Post »http://www.MaverickVoice.com
banjarmon
Posted on November 12, 2011 at 9:54pmSend me a billion dollars to study this! As soon as the check clears, I will give you an answer!!!!
Report Post »Tracy Y. Andersen
Posted on November 12, 2011 at 1:29amPossibly further proof that water is indeed special in nature.
The polar structure of the water molecule that forms the hexagonal pattern in snowflakes, and the anomalous less dense solid phase, and so on, of all of water’s properties, and now to find a subtle fourth phase is very delightful.
Liquid water isn’t quite random, as the polarity will form clumps momentarily, and this may be what is exaggerated as it tends toward freezing, but isn’t quite there yet, that may characterize the fourth phase. An “organized slush”, so to speak.
But then, I’m just guessing, extrapolating from the sparse description given in the report. Fun to speculate.
Report Post »Anamah
Posted on November 12, 2011 at 12:57amWhat can I say? Of course not a word!!!
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