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Previously Unknown Type of Water Ice Solidifies at Room Temperature (Ice XXI)

2025-10-26 Science & Technology
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Anton Petrov
Anton Petrov
1.6m subscribers

Discovery of Ice XXI: New Type of Water Ice Redefines Planetary Science

Discover why Earth’s common ice (Ice 1H) is a cosmic anomaly and how the newly found Ice XXI reshapes planetary science and our understanding of water physics under extreme pressure.

Short Summary

  • Scientists identified Ice XXI, a new, unique phase of water ice, detailed in a recent Nature study.
  • Crucially, Ice XXI formed under intense pressure and ambient room temperature ($\sim 20^\circ$ C), setting it apart from many other exotic high-pressure ices.
  • This discovery clarifies crystallization pathways, suggesting Ice XXI might be a necessary intermediate step between pressurized water and the stable Ice 6.
  • The findings significantly impact models describing the interiors of ice giants (Neptune, Uranus) and icy moons, where water state dictates planetary magnetic fields.

This discussion details the advanced experimental setup using X-ray lasers to observe this phase, its specific tetragonal structure, and why the ordered hydrogen in exotic ices contrasts sharply with the environment that supports life on Earth.

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Description

Support this channel on Patreon to help me make this a full time job: https://www.patreon.com/whatdamath (Unreleased videos, extra footage, DMs, no ads) Alternatively, PayPal donations can be sent here: http://paypal.me/whatdamath Get a Wonderful Person Tee: https://teespring.com/stores/whatdamath More cool designs are on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3QFIrFX Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about a discovery of a new type of water ice called Ice XXI that breaks new records Links: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41563-025-02364-x Previous ice discoveries https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-Tk4JO4Ohc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqp4_I6JxAs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNBv_U-95SM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsQXN-Kh2-w #icexxi #waterice #physics 0:00 Ice on Earth 1:00 New ice found! Ice XXI 2:00 Different phases of ice 3:35 Why this matters and what happens on other planets 5:55 Ice XXI and how it was found 7:30 Why it's so different and stability questions 9:30 How this affects other planets 11:20 How this affects our understanding 13:30 Conclusions and what's next? Enjoy and please subscribe Bitcoin/Ethereum to spare? Donate them here to help this channel grow! bc1qnkl3nk0zt7w0xzrgur9pnkcduj7a3xxllcn7d4 or ETH: 0x60f088B10b03115405d313f964BeA93eF0Bd3DbF Thank you to all Patreon supporters of this channel Special thanks also goes to all the wonderful supporters of the channel through YouTube Memberships Credit: Cmglee CC BY-SA 3.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phases_of_ice#/media/File:Phase_diagram_of_water.svg Psiĥedelisto CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice#/media/File:Ice_Ih_Crystal_Lattice.png John Loveday - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Icexii.jpg CC BY-SA 3.0 Danski14 CC BY SA 3.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phases_of_ice#/media/File:Ice_XI_side_view.png Licenses used: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ and relevant Creative Commons licenses

Top Comments (10)

@allohmon 2025-10-26

I think I’ve read this Vonnegut novel

664 71 replies
@mikemoore4033 2025-10-26

For anyone that doesn’t know, “Ice-nine” was the catalyst of global disaster in Kurt Vonnegut’s best novel, “Cat’s Cradle”. If you haven’t read it, do so.

357 25 replies
@anastasiabeaverhausen8220 2025-10-26

I see several others immediately thought of Vonnegut's Ice 9 from "Cat's Cradle."

118 3 replies
@alanvitullo 2025-10-26

As long as it's not Ice IX.

110 8 replies
@PaulG.x 2025-10-27

Mama ice: "Johnny is becoming solid at room temperature!" Daddy ice: "It's just a phase." Ice ice baby: "Waaaaaahhhhh!!"

101 3 replies
@CarlChapman-e3p 2025-10-28

At this rate Ice XXXVI will be the room temperature super conductor we have all been searching for.

98 8 replies
@TheGiggleMasterP 2025-10-26

We got room temperature ice before GTA 6 😅

90 14 replies
@Hashismo 2025-10-26

I feel like I did something wrong because you didn't open with ''Hello wonderful person''. Edit 1 minute in: THERE HE IS!

65
@imikokodama3054 2025-10-27

Anton’s channel is the coolest YouTube channel. Hands down. Bro has it going on.

63 2 replies
@SebSN-y3f 2025-10-27

There's a very good documentary about this: "Water: The Strangest Liquid," in which a Scandinavian physics professor explains all this very well, along with the experiments he conducted together with scientific colleagues in Switzerland, California, and South Korea. This excellent documentary can also be found on YouTube on the channel: Show Me the World.

10

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