Scientists find new type of ice inside diamonds

A rare form of ice has been found inside diamonds that were newly unearthed around the world, according to a study published in Science journal.

The type of ice, known as ice-VII, features a cubic shape and is about 1.5 times as dense as the regular ice – ice I.

Different from other solids, whose atoms squeeze together under higher forms of pressure, water-based ice molecules rearrange themselves into new structures when subjected to increasing pressure.

For example, if you press down hard enough on ice-I, it will transform into ice-II, which has a rhombohedral structure. Increase the pressure once again and the atoms will rearrange themselves into ice-III, then IV, V, VI and VII.

Scientists have found a rare form of ice inside diamonds.

Once it reaches the phase of ice-VII, the structure remains fairly stable even as the pressure increases.

The discovery has cheered the scientists, who previously believed that ice-VII only existed on other planets of the solar systems.

"Water in diamonds is not unknown, but finding this very high-pressure form of water ice intact, that was really fortuitous," George Rossman, a mineralogist at Caltech, told the Los Angeles Times. "That's what you call discovery."

Thanks to their discovery, ice-VII has been recognized for the first time as a mineral in the International Mineralogical Assn.

The diamonds with ice-VII inside were collected from mines in Africa and China.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)