Water Found to Transform Into a Different Liquid at Low Temperatures: New Study

Water transformation or water phase transition has long been thought to undergo a recurring three cycles involving the states of liquid, solid, and gas. Both with its anthropogenic and natural usage, so-called two-atom hydrogen and one-atom oxygen (H2O) has been widely used by various industries for the sustenance of humans. It is also an essential part of our atmosphere where precipitation process occurs.

The conventional knowledge of the process of water phases is reportedly linear and not complex. However, a new study led by researchers from the United Kingdom and Italy proves otherwise. They claimed there is evidence that H20 can change from one state of liquid into another, but as a denser liquid, at low temperatures. The latest discovery was never proven before, at least in a practical sense.

In the process called liquid-to-liquid transformation, the British and Italian research team used computer simulations to help discern what certain features differentiate the two liquids at the microscopic level. The results yield there is a molecular difference between the high-density liquid and the low-density liquid. Uncertainty still looms on the implications of the study, which addressed a 30-year-old research problem.

Water Transformation

In the new paper published in the journal Nature Physics on August 11, a collaborative experiment found that the water molecules in the high-density liquid create arrangements considered as "topologically complex," which pertains to the molecular shape similar to a trefoil knot or a pretzel. This means that the molecules in the high-density liquid are entangled.

The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Birmingham in England and Sapienza Università di Roma in Rome.

In 1992, Francesco Sciortino, now a professor at the Italian university, first proposed the liquid-liquid phase transition. Sciortino was a member of the original research group at Boston University in Massachusetts, United States. Yet it will only be this time that the scientists will find the physics behind the fluid transformation in the new research, where Sciortino is a co-author.

Liquid-Liquid Phase Transition

In addition to computer simulations, the team also used a colloidal model of water and utilized two commonly used molecular models of water. Colloids are substances consisting of insoluble particles, which are thousand times larger than a single H20 molecule, according to Science Daily.

The colloidal model served as a magnifying glass to better observe and understand the previously unknown notion of two liquids.

The team is expecting that succeeding studies will employ experiments that will validate their theory and extent the newly found concept of the 'entangled' liquids to other liquids like silicon, Science Daily reports.

Prior to the 2022 study, both educational institutions have long thought that liquid directly jumps as a vapor or solid during such transition.

The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) describes a water molecule to be like a tiny magnet, consisting of a negative charge on one side and a positive charge on the other end.

It is likely due to this feature that liquid easily transitions into another state, at least prior to the unprecedented findings, the AMNH implies.