SellaTheChemistIf anyone is into #StrangeIce my friend and colleague Christoph Salzmann and I will be talking about one of the strangest of strange ices on BBC World Service's Inside Science later tonight, with additional ice talk from Europa and beyond. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct36b9
Our #StrangeIce paper is out in Science. Medium density amorphous ice. It doesn’t float. It doesn’t sink. The density is like water yet the atoms cannot move. It’s made by ball milling “normal” ice at -200 degrees and has lost almost all trace of its original crystalline structure. And if you squeeze it, it stores mechanical energy, an observation that may have implications for worlds like Europa where tidal forces drive mechanical shearing. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq2105
Very amused this morning to find that our MDA ice paper in Science is being reported under "weird news" by the Daily Star, no less, with a strong focus on aliens. Striking to see what they think is "related content". And the irony of the fact that the website is blocked by BT's parental controls. I had to view the dodgy site through UCL network. 😂 #StrangeIce #WeirdIce https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/scientists-discover-new-form-ice-29119606
I'll be on Al Jazeera just after the half hour talking about our #StrangeIce Why is it that I still find live stuff so terrifying?
I think I survived. it's always slightly unnerving to do this to camera when you can't see what's happening on the other side.
🇨🇦 TRH 🇨🇦@sellathechemist As long as it bears no relation to Vonnegut's Ice-9...
@Mayor_of_Smartarse Ha! Look for Felix Franks' wonderful book called "Polywater", a history of a classic exemplar of pathological science from the early 1960s when both scientific curiosity and Cold War fear led to a short but memorable scientific feeding frenzy. Vonnegut's brother was a meteorologist with an interest in the role of ice in the electrostatics of thunderstorms. He passed the story on. And the rest, as they say, is literature.
@sellathechemist Oh excellent, I will have to look that up. We all know the stories that fear of radiation spawned, looking at you Spider-man...
hilaryjohn@sellathechemist
Hi Andrea. Finally heard you on Science in Action on World Service in the early hours. Basically mashing up ice at very low temperatures and that may exist on other planets. Brilliant.
Hi Andrea. Finally heard you on Science in Action on World Service in the early hours. Basically mashing up ice at very low temperatures and that may exist on other planets. Brilliant.
@hilaryjohn2 I only mashed it once. And not long enough. It was Alex Rosu-Finsen who worked the magic with Christoph Salzmann. And Alfred provided important crystallographic insights and key experimental support. And then the computer guys in Cambridge who really helped explain what was going on.
Two Brits, two Austrians, a Dane and and a detribalised Italian. You wonder how easy it will be to recreate such a team in future… @uclchemistry
Two Brits, two Austrians, a Dane and and a detribalised Italian. You wonder how easy it will be to recreate such a team in future… @uclchemistry
@sellathechemist @uclchemistry It may well require alchemy!
@philipcball provides a typically deep assessment of medium density amorphous ice, explaining its implications with far greater understanding and insight than I ever could. #StrangeIce Thanks, Phil! You've given us more to chew over. https://www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/new-phase-of-amorphous-ice-formed-by-ball-milling/4016970.article
Dr Susi Arnott@sellathechemist @philipcball - I beg to differ; a great piece from PB but AS was so good to wider audience on @bbcr4 Today prog:)
@SusiArnott @philipcball Ha! I owe you dinner!
Philip Ball@SusiArnott @sellathechemist Argh, I missed that - will have to catch it now. But I have no doubt you're totally right Susi!
@sellathechemist Oh, this is my first visit here for months, I'm ashamed to say. So, a belated thank you, and you're too kind. And it's probably time we had a coffee.
Ian Robinson@philipcball @sellathechemist The iPhone app Ivory is a nice way to use Mastodon.
I’ve stopped using Twitter at all.
@philipcball Next time you’re heading BL-wards let me know.
Clyde Davies@sellathechemist I saw the related content. I think that more a reflection on the publication than your paper.
Catherine RW@sellathechemist "Boffins"
What a godsawful website to try and read anything on (on my phone, rather than the ad-blocked PC).
@Polyhymnia I know. Such a retro phrase. Maybe is should add that to my profile (“Boffin according to the Daily Star”)…
Martin Vermeer FCD@sellathechemist Is this one of Bridgman's ices?
@martinvermeer No. Bridgman's and the others were all crystalline and made a higher pressures, although you can make high density amorphous ice is you overdo the squeezing. This is a normal pressure ice, pretty completely amorphous, made by shearing and shearing and shearing crystals over and over. Because the Hydrogens are disordered in "normal" ice, the ice cannot reassemble when you slide the layers of molecules past each other. So the material densifies with each successive shearing…
Kirk Smith@sellathechemist wow this is wild and super cool!
@kirk It was totally unexpected. Ironically, when Christoph put it in a grant proposal he was told that it wasn't worth doing as he'd only get smaller bits of regular ice. Then we got our hands on an abandoned cryomill and the first author Alex R-F spotted the progressive changes as he milled it.
Philip Mountford@sellathechemist such a pleasure to hear you explain this on the radio this morning.
@Phil_Mountford Thank you. I cannot tell you the levels of cortisol and blood pressure… 😝 (leveraged by finding my back tyre was flat at 6 am)
Martin Whitworth@sellathechemist Really interested and will notify my father, co-author of https://global.oup.com/academic/product/physics-of-ice-9780198518952?cc=gb&lang=en&. Heard the BBC World Service item. Shame no open access (I could rant about that), so I have only seen the abstract. Congratulations to you, Christoph and 1st author Alexander Russo-Finsen. I’m familiar with ball milling from my cereals work.
Physics of Ice
Ice is one of the most abundant and environmentally important materials on Earth, and its unique and intriguing physical properties present fascinating areas of study for a wide variety of researchers. This book is about the physics of ice, by which is meant the properties of the material itself and the ways in which these properties are interpreted in terms of water molecules and crystalline structure.
@Martin_Whitworth Alex is an incredibly talented scientist. Persistent and laid back. Smart as hell.
@Martin_Whitworth It’s the ball milled salami I’m curious about
@sellathechemist Salami?! Tell me more. We’ve used a ball mill for wheat flour. It’s a great way of creating starch damage, although not used at commercial scale. Starch damage is a process that increases water absorption, achieved by shear of starch granules. It decreases birefringence (Maltese cross effects under crossed polars) and crystallinity.
@Martin_Whitworth The kit used was a Retsch Cryomill designed to reduce nduja, cervelas or sucuk to a fine dust by milling at -200 degrees. 😂 Maybe we should for medium density amorphous bratwurst next!