This discussion centers on the phenomenon of water freezing under extreme pressure. Participants clarify that while water typically expands upon freezing, under sufficient pressure, it can transition into various solid forms, including ice types 6, 8, 9, and 10, even at temperatures above 0°C. The conversation highlights the complexity of water's behavior under pressure, emphasizing that the solidification process is primarily driven by pressure rather than temperature changes. Notably, the Sandia Lab has successfully frozen water by applying extreme pressure using their Z machine.
PREREQUISITESScientists, physicists, and engineers interested in material science, thermodynamics, and the unique properties of water under extreme conditions will benefit from this discussion.
ChmDudeCB said:Exactly. What we call "frozen water" isn't the only solid form of water, it's just the crystal structure that happens to form at atmospheric pressure. If you compress anything below its supercritical temperature it will eventually become solid (or a glass).
However, are you sure your phase diagram is accurate? IIRC once you pass the supercritical points of temperature and pressure, that is all that exists. I could be wrong and/or my P-chem professor left something out.
DaveC426913 said:Freezing the water requires that the molecules have a chance to crystalize. Crystalizing requires that the molecules have enough elbow room to do so. It's not that water wil NOT freeze under extrreme pressure, it's just that water is very complex. There are actually almost a dozen forms of ice water. Ice I (naturally-formed water-ice) is only one.