This strange hot black ice hides the secrets of the magnetic fields of gaseous planets (and the geoengineering of the future)

Two years ago, a team of researchers from the Brighton Laser Energy Laboratory in New York, One of the most powerful lasers in the world pointed at a drop of water. Then, “Pull the triggerThe device raised the pressure of the water to millions of atmospheres and its temperature to thousands of degrees. At that moment, scientists used X-rays to photograph and display the heart of the water drop The first sight to water in those conditions.

What they found was ice. Black ice is hot as hell. Yes, “hot ice” because, no matter how long it takes, water is still a wonderful thing that we don’t really know very well. Known by its technical name, super ionic ice is a very rare form of ice that originates in environments with high temperatures and extreme pressure conditions.

Or not so extreme, because another group of researchers described the conditions needed to produce it and the results are really exciting because we think, This ice has a central role in the formation of the planetary magnetic fields of gas giants. The question now is whether we are about to take a substantial step into it The future of geoengineering.

ice between diamonds

The University of Chicago Group was created A diamond “cage” is to place water under high pressure and then use a laser to heat it into ionic super-ice. The result was as expected:Solid oxygen net in a floating hydrogen oceanThe challenge was to understand it. Ultimately, we are talking about ‘a new state of matter that behaves like new matter.’

The most surprising thing for the researchers was that they needed less extreme conditions than they thought. In front of the 50 MPa they were expecting to need, the super-ionized ice appeared by less than half; With 20 MPa. This pressure is also less than half of what the missile has to develop at takeoff. It is a surprise, then; But it is an interesting surprise.

What does all this have to do with magnetic fields?

This is the interesting thing. The Earth’s magnetic field (an element essential to allowing life on the planet) is caused by the internal movement of liquid iron in its core. This is not what we see on the large gaseous planets like Uranus and Neptune. While we have it symmetric with respect to the axis of rotation; In giants the fields appear off-center and irregular.

Until now it was suspected that super-ionic ice had a lot to do with it. However, our knowledge of this state of water was very limited and it was still a theoretical model. Now the field of research has been opened and in the coming years we will be able to learn more about all this. About this and how planetary magnetic fields work in the real world: Something we will need if we want to see Mars flourish.

picture | Israel Palace