Supercooled water hit with lasers displays new properties

Anders Nilsson and his team at Stanford University in California have made forays into understanding the yet unexplored properties of water. They took snapshots of liquid water cooled to -46 °C by shooting a jet of liquid through a vacuum, which created water drops that rapidly chilled due to evaporation. Some of the drops remained ice-free for about a millisecond, and those were hit with X-ray laser pulses. When the laser encountered a water drop, its light scattered and created patterns that revealed the drop's structure and density. Early results show that water gradually evolves towards a low-density liquid as it cools and that the change accelerates once it reaches the previously unexplored temperature range. These findings are vital for the atmospheric science studies.

Read more in NewScientist.