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Uranus is one of the most unusual planets in our world. Its aesthetics and climatic conditions have made the scientific community ask quite a few questions about how it works. In fact, the high pressures and strange conditions they present make it possible for diamonds to rain, one of the most coveted and scarce minerals on our planet. To this we have to add that Uranus looks like an intergalactic portal if observed from afar, since it has a very peculiar shape thanks to its rings and its lateral rotation.
Now, according to Physical Review C, a team of scientists from China and Russia has discovered that there is a strange form of water in the planet’s interior due to the very high pressures.
The aquodium, a strange type of water at the heart of Uranus
Uranus is, as we have already said, a unique planet, but the discovery of the aquodiium is even more incredible. It is a water molecule that is used on Earth, but it has two additional protons. In this way, having a positive net load.
But what is the reason for this strange event? To the planet’s magnetic fields, which are as peculiar as Neptune’s. According to ScienceAlert, the magnetic field of both planets is tilted with respect to the axes of rotation and they do not have the center in the planet’s core, so an ionically conductive fluid is generated. There, ions are the carriers of free charge, specifically in the form of hydrogen protons. As we already know, when hydrogen meets oxygen, water (H2O) is formed, but sometimes a proton binds to a pair of electrons and forms a hydronium ion (H30+).
After their research, the scientists asked themselves something very important, and that is whether aquodiium or H4O2 could be formed under ideal conditions of very high pressure and temperature. Through simulations that have been carried out through large language models or AIs, it has been concluded that both Uranus and Neptune with such high pressures and temperatures could form aquodiium without problems.
We are talking about pressures of 1.5 million atmospheres and temperatures of up to 3000ºC, circumstances that are difficult to achieve on other planets, but that on Uranus and Neptune are natural.
However, the existence of the aquodiium on Uranus is not confirmed. Detailed observations of the planet are needed to make sure of this. At the moment, all this does not escape from the theoretical field to become a reality, but everything points to the fact that it could be a reality. Although it may seem irrelevant, these types of discoveries would help us understand the magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune and could have an impact on our knowledge of traditional chemistry and physics. We can often wonder if these discoveries have real applications, and the truth is that both theoretically and practically, they can change things substantially.
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