Water loses structural order under extreme pressure, study finds

Researchers at UNLV squeezed water between diamonds up to 222 GPa and found that the high-pressure ice phase ice-X loses its cubic symmetry instead of becoming more ordered. The findings, published in Communications Chemistry, could inform models of the interiors of Uranus and Neptune.

• Pressure reached 222 GPa, roughly 32 million PSI
• Ice-X lost its cubic symmetry under compression
• X-ray data came from Argonne's Advanced Photon Source and the Advanced Light Source
• Experiments ran at room temperature, unlike hot planetary interiors