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Everyone knows what water is. It is essential for life as we know it. Water is unique in how it responds to changes in pressure and temperature, which can be completely different from other liquids. Scientists have long studied what causes water to react differently to pressure and temperature than other liquids.
A team of international researchers has shown that water can exist in two different liquid states. The discovery could explain the anomalous properties of the omnipresent liquid. The possibility that water exists in two distinct liquid states was proposed about 30 years ago based on the results of computer simulations. The experiments to access the two liquid states of water have been challenging due to a seemingly unavoidable ice formation under the conditions in which the two liquid states should exist.
The typical liquid state of water is what everyone knows and is liquid water at normal temperatures. The paper shows that water at low temperatures of around -63 degrees Celsius exists in two different liquid states. One state is a low pressure low density liquid and the other is a high pressure high density liquid. The two liquids have remarkably different properties and differ by 20% in density.
The study results imply that water would exist as two immiscible liquids separated by a thin interface, similar to how oil and water coexist, under appropriate conditions. Learning all that is possible about water is important due to the vital role it plays in life on Earth and in different fields such as biochemistry, climate, cryopreservation, cryobiology, materials science and other industrial processes.
The two liquid states could impact multiple scientific and engineering applications. Project researchers note that there remains an open question as to how the presence of two liquids might affect the behavior of eye solutions in general.
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