Ava Austi
AP Biology
Current Event #15
February 5, 2018
“Newly Discovered Form of Water Ice Is ‘Really Strange’”
Chang, Kenneth. “Newly Discovered Form of Water Ice Is 'Really Strange'.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Feb. 2018.
In the article, “Newly Discovered Form of Water Ice Is ‘Really Strange’” by Kenneth Chang from The New York Times, it discusses how scientists have confirmed a form of water that is simultaneously solid and liquid. It is the latest advance in the study of water, a seemingly simple substance that can shift between many different configurations. This new form, called superionic water, consists of a rigid lattice of oxygen atoms through which positively charged hydrogen nuclei move. It is not known to exist naturally anywhere on Earth, but it may be bountiful farther out in the solar system, including in the mantles of Uranus and Neptune. Theorists first suggested 30 years ago that superionic water might exist under extremely high pressures and hot temperatures. The heat melts the chemical bonds between the hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The high pressure keeps the larger and heavier oxygen atoms stacked in a fixed crystal alignment — a solid — while the hydrogen nuclei, or ions, flow through — a liquid. Raymond Jeanloz, a professor of earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley, and an author of the Nature Physics paper, says “It’s as though the water ice is partially molten.” In the new experiment, scientists at Lawrence Livermore first squeezed water between two pieces of diamond with a pressure of 360,000 pounds per square inch. That is about 25,000 times greater than the air pressing against you here on the surface of Earth, and the water is squeezed into a type of ice known as ice VII, which is about 60 percent denser than usual water, and solid at room temperature. Each diamond cell contained about one-seven-millionth of an ounce of water. The researchers then took the compressed ice, packed in carry-on luggage, to the University of Rochester where it was blasted by a pulse of laser light. That caused shock waves through the ice that lasted 10 to 20 billionths of a second, heating it to thousands of degrees and exerting a pressure more than a million times that of Earth’s atmosphere. Those conditions exist inside Uranus and Neptune and undoubtedly within numerous ice giants around other stars. Dr. Jeanloz said the agreement between experiment and prediction offered promise that scientists are beginning to understand the basic physics of how molecules in general behave under changing temperatures and pressures well enough for practical use.
This newly discovered form of water ice can help improve many scientists’ research societies and ours in the future . The superionic ice could help explain the lopsided, off-center magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune, the solar system’s seventh and eighth planets that are known as ice giants and were visited briefly by NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft in the 1980s. Instead of Earth’s magnetic field generated at the core of the planet, the fields of those icy bodies may originate, in part, within shells of superionic ice inside their mantles. There is also hope for a large impact in the future. Dr. Jeanloz expressed that as one starts validating these kinds of predictions, it may give hope that one could start thinking about engineering new materials. The new superionic ice continues to impact research and scientists hope that it impacts our societies more in the future.
I thought this article was very interesting but at the same time, very straightforward. I found it very intriguing how a form of water, a huge component of everyone’s life, was confirmed to be simultaneously solid and liquid. I was able to understand the main idea of the article due to the strengths of the author. Kenneth Chang did a great job of providing the reader with the perfect amount of detail. Because of this, I was able to grasp the perfect idea of this new finding. There was never a point where I was confused with the steps of the experiments. I wish the author included more quotes from researchers that were apart of the experiments because this would have allowed me to get an idea of what other researchers opinions were on this new finding. Overall, I believe the author did a excellent job of addressing the new discovery of water ice.
Nina Veru
ReplyDeleteAP-Bio, C-odd
Current Event 15
Chang, Kenneth. “Newly Discovered Form of Water Ice Is 'Really Strange'.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Feb. 2018.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/science/superionic-water-neptune-uranus.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront
After reading Ava Austi’s review, I learned a lot about “superionic” water and all it can do. Throughout her review, I believe Austi did an excellent job at explaining scientific terms. Austi claims, “This new form, called superionic water, consists of a rigid lattice of oxygen atoms through which positively charged hydrogen nuclei move. It is not known to exist naturally anywhere on Earth, but it may be bountiful farther out in the solar system, including in the mantles of Uranus and Neptune.” Austi makes it clear that the new water contains moving hydrogen nuclei. What I found to be especially interesting was that the substance may only be found on Uranus or Neptune. Austi’s review seems accurate due to her good use of credibly quotes. Ava includes a quote from Raymond Jeonalz - a professor at the University of California Berkeley. Jeanloz states, “It’s as though the water ice is partially molten.” By including this quote, the review seems to have more scientific accuracy. Lastly, I enjoyed how Ava explained the importance of this research. Austi claims that the research could help explain the lopsidedness of Neptune and Uranus’ magnetic fields.
Although the review was well done, Austi could have organized her work better. For instance, the first paragraph appeared to be rather long. Since the information at hand was so complex, the author could have benefitted from breaking the paragraph into smaller pieces, which would make the information easier to obtain. Secondly, although Austi quoted a scientist, she could have quoted another to giver her review even more credibility, and to help convince the reader as to why this information is important.
Overall, I thought this was an excellent review, and I feel as though I learned a lot of new information. I learned of this new “superionic water”, and thought it was interesting that the water is simultaneously a liquid and a solid.
ReplyDeleteAva Austi wrote a noteworthy review on Kenneth Change’s “Newly Discovered Form of Water Ice Is Really Strange.” In Austi’s review, there were multiple areas that she wrote very well, resulting in many aspects well done. One successful part of her review can be located in her summary. Here, Austi gives a full explanation of what “supersonic water” is, describing its appearance to what it’s like chemically, for example, “The high pressure keeps the larger and heavier oxygen atoms stacked in a fixed crystal alignment — a solid — while the hydrogen nuclei, or ions, flow through — a liquid” (Austi, 1). As the entire review is centered on this new form of water, it is crucial for the reviewer to be able to describe this discovery and how it acts, so they can then elaborate on the basic information and begin to review the article. Her quick explanation of “supersonic water” also allows her readers to fully understand it without looking back into the article itself for clarification. Another prosperous section of the review is also found in the summary paragraph. Throughout her summary, Austi provides quantitative data from the article to support her description of the experiments happening in and around the study of supersonic water. Not only does she supply the quantitative data of the pounds of pressure being placed on water, but she also describes what the pressure would be like in comparison to the air pressure of Earth. This helps her readers to better understand exactly how much pressure is needed to change regular water into its new form. Lastly, the critique contains an aspect well done. Austi successfully pointed out what the author of the article had done right to help her specifically understand the subject of the article. She noticed just how much detail Chang placed into his article, as well as how much information he included about the experiments to improve the clarity of his article. All of the data Austi used in her summary came from the article, and Chang is to thank for the large quantity of it.
Although Austi’s review was engaging and gripping, there were a few areas that needed adjustments. For example, in her connection to society, Austi claims that the discovery of supersonic water has impacted our society, but then continues to explain how it has affected the scientific world, especially how it is changing astronomy. To assess this issue, Austi could explain further on the possibility of “engineering new materials”(Austi, 1) from materials we know and are around every day, such as water, and how those materials may then in turn become a crucial part of our society. This request does require some extra research, so Austi instead, for a solution, may want to rephrase that it is impacting society and instead make it more clear that the means the scientific world. Another area of confusion can be found in the summary, where Austi begins to write about an ice called “ice VII” without explaining to her readers if that is the same ice water as supersonic water, or a completely different substance. This confusion could be cleared with a short introductory sentence explaining why ice VII is relevant to the topic at hand, and how it is most closely related to supersonic water.
From this review, I learned that scientists still have much to learn about basic molecular structures, such as the crystal lattice in water, and can still create new substances from them. This article and review stands out in that the substance being described is really both water and ice, and not just a combination of them like sleet. From reading this article, I wonder how scientists will categorize this supersonic water, as it may not be fitting to call it entirely a solid or a liquid. This new discovery changed my understanding of how certain sciences can interrelate to each other. A new discovery, such as supersonic water, in the world of chemistry, can them be applied to astronomy and a number of other science fields as a result.
Kirsten Ircha 2/12/18
ReplyDeleteAP Biology E/F Even Current Event #16
Citation:
Chang, Kenneth. “Newly Discovered Form of Water Ice Is 'Really Strange'.” The New York
Times, The New York Times, 5 Feb. 2018.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/science/superionic-water-neptune-uranus.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront
My fellow colleague, Ava Austi, wrote an insightful review on the article, “Newly Discovered Form of Water Ice Is 'Really Strange'” by Kenneth Chang of the New York Times. To begin, Ava does a great job of explaining what superionic water is and how it is defined. This allows the reader to have a very good basic understanding of the topic and see how exactly superionic water is formed. These details also enable to audience to see how superionic water is both solid and liquid, yet differs from both of these properties. Furthermore, Ava includes the research and thoughts of prominent scientist in the field. For example, Ava writes, “Raymond Jeanloz, a professor of earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley, and an author of the Nature Physics paper, says “It’s as though the water ice is partially molten.”” By explaining the work of well established individuals, Ava’s review is seen as far more credible and important. Additionally, the readers are able to see that Ava has a very good understanding of her topic and is interested in the discovery. Lastly, I feel that Ava chose a very unique article to review. This allows the audience to be more engaged and pay more attention to the text.
Although I enjoyed the review, a couple of areas could be improved. To begin, some of the more scientific terminology is not well defined or clear. As this serves only to confuse the audience, I feel Ava can do a better job of defining terms more thoroughly in future work. Also, I found a few misspellings or other small grammatical errors throughout the text. This makes me feel as if Ava did not proof read her work. In the future, Ava can edit or peer edit to minimize some of these mistakes. These changes, although small, can aid the text.
What shocked me most is when Ava writes, “This newly discovered form of water ice can help improve many scientists’ research societies and ours in the future . The superionic ice could help explain the lopsided, off-center magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune, the solar system’s seventh and eighth planets that are known as ice giants and were visited briefly by NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft in the 1980s.” This is so surprising as the statement expresses how the discovery can explain an issue that has previously been unsolved by scientist. The new information can only help broaden scientific understanding and further the field. This review will change my life as I am deeply interested in the topic and will follow updates on this issue in the future.
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