Overview
- An international team reported in Science evidence that liquid water hits a hidden transition when it is cooled to about 210 K under roughly 1,000 atmospheres.
- The group heated high- and low-density amorphous ices with ultrafast infrared pulses and then used X-ray bursts at PAL-XFEL in South Korea to catch the liquid before it froze.
- The measurements show two distinct liquid forms blur into one at the transition, with a sharp rise in heat capacity and stronger density fluctuations.
- The team also saw the liquid’s motion slow near the transition, which one researcher likened to being trapped near a black hole.
- Researchers say the result can unify long-standing water anomalies and now plan tests to verify near-equilibrium snapshots and to gauge impacts in biology, climate, geology, and chemistry.