Discover a new state of water

The belief that water has only three solid, liquid, and gas forms is no longer suitable when scientists find that hot water between 40 and 60 degrees C begins to switch between two different liquid states.

Water is one of the most basic compounds on Earth and accounts for about 60% of the human body. Water is very special. Except mercury, water is the liquid with the highest surface tension. It is also the only substance with a solid state that floats on a liquid state and unlike most other substances, water expands when it freezes.

We are so familiar with three basic forms: solid, liquid, gas. It also has a surprisingly large boiling point for such a small molecular weight substance.

"Nobody really understands water," Philip Ball pointed out in Nature. "It is shameful to admit it, but the thing that covers two-thirds of our planet is still a mystery. The worse, the more we consider it, the more problems we have. Further research into the molecular structure of liquid water suggests more and more puzzles ".

According to this study, water is not only three types: solid, liquid gas, but also has another second liquid form - Photo: Felix Russell-Saw / Unsplash.

For a long time it has been certain that there is only one liquid form of water. However, researchers have found a different form of liquid. This research is published in the international journal International Journal of Nanotechnology.

To draw this conclusion, an international research group led by physicist Laura Maestro from Oxford University (UK) examines some of the water's own properties. They found that when heated to between 40 and 60 degrees C, there was a " crossover temperature" and began to switch between two different liquid states, showing a completely new form.

Between 40 and 60 degrees Celsius, the properties of the water will be altered in its entirety even though it has not yet turned into vapor - (Photo: Fitday).

Physicists study factors such as thermal conductivity, refractive index, conductivity, surface tension and dielectric constant - showing how an electric field can spread through a substance - and do how do they react to temperature fluctuations between 0 and 100 degrees Celsius?

Accordingly, when water reaches 40 degrees Celsius, everything begins to change, and all properties change over the period of time it increases to 60 degrees C. Each attribute has a different "threshold temperature" somewhere. within this limit, and researchers think this is because liquid water has moved to another stage.

The team listed some of the threshold temperatures that alter the above properties, namely about 64 degrees C for thermal conductivity, 50 degrees C for refractive index, about 53 degrees C for electrical conductivity. , and 57 degrees Celsius for surface tension.

"This result confirms that within the range of 0-100 degrees Celsius, the threshold temperature of many properties of liquid water forms up to nearly 50 degrees C," they concluded.

Scientists believe their findings have a big impact on our understanding of both biological and nano systems - (Photo: Getty Images).

Water molecules maintain very superficial connections with each other and these hydrogen bonds are actually much weaker than individual atomic hydrogen and oxygen bonds inside the molecule. For this reason, hydrogen bonds bind water molecules together constantly broken down and reshaped according to structure and rules. Physicists believe this is the reason why water has a strange nature, but no one is quite sure how it works.

"Everyone agrees that a point in the molecular structure of water makes it different from most other liquids that are hydrogen bonds," Ball wrote in Nature.

Before this result is added to the textbook that the country has four forms, the research needs to be further authenticated and redone by another independent group. Researchers believe their findings have major implications for our understanding of both nano and biological systems.