A Deadly, Fast-Spreading Form of Super-Ice Could Be Killing Off Alien Life-Forms

space.com ^ | November 5, 2018 07:00am ET | Rafi Letzter, Live Science Staff Writer |

[a fool in paradise]

[imardmd1]

[eartick]

Global....we have created universal cooling and it is all our fault.

[moovova]

"Stop, collaborate and listen"

Here's Vanilla Ice checking for Super Ice in his indoor pool. He's cool...

[mabarker1]

Need one of these to get started.

[HarleyD]

Now I know why I haven’t seen any Klingons lately.

[Daffynition]

[Hot Tabasco]

What does “jazz cover” mean?

[Lockbox]

If only the Aliens had used oil, they would of survived.

[Inkie]

Calling Kurt Vonnegut.

[King Moonracer]

Could we use this ice to stop the caravan?

[Blueflag]

Nailed it! The grand “aah-whoom”

Loved that book.

[ek_hornbeck]

If it requires the equivalent of thousands of atmospheric pressure units to form, how could Ice VII possibly take over an entire planet's surface at 1 atm or less, as this article claims? It could form at the site of a meteor impact, but wouldn't grow beyond the area of temporary high pressure, unless I'm misunderstanding something.

But the scenario they outline does sound a lot like Ice-9 in Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle...sure, Vonnegut was a lefty, but he was one of the best dark humorists in literary history, with a great imagination, especially in his first few books.

[Wuli]

“This could pose problems for the hunt for alien life, Physics Central reported. Pressure spikes — say, from meteor impacts — could cause the explosive formation of Ice VII on watery planets otherwise suited to alien life. “

Aren’t they missing the fact that the ice formation requires extreme pressures as well, and if that was atmospheric pressure it is unlikely for any surface life to develop even without the super ice.

[Salman]

Didn’t Kurt Vonnegut write that book fifty years ago?

[ASOC]

Thank you.

My first thought on resding the extract was - is this SciFi like ICE (?

[PapaBear3625]

Ice VII is only stable at pressures of thousands of times earth pressure. See phase diagram here. So, yes, a shock wave which produces a few thousand atmosphere's of pressure may cause Ice VII to form, but once the shock wave passes and lower pressure resumes, the Ice VII reverts back to regular ice.

That's why they've only been able to see it inside diamonds, which are the only things that could contain that sort of pressure.

[Ozark Tom]

Blame Irving Langmuir’s brother Arthur, the chemist. Kurt patterned his mad scientist Dr. Felix Hoenikker upon Arthur.

[Chode]

now wait a minute... how can it be that cold that deep???