Thanks U238.
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“The scientists, from Sandia and Germany’s University of Rostock, did this by punching a dime-sized amount of water with small metal plates that had been magnetically accelerated to speeds of 27 kilometers per second. The resulting shock wave induced planetary core-like pressures; the scientists could then watch how the molecules in the sample reacted.
“The water was less compressible than expected, the researchers found, refusing to collapse into denser configurations. Instead, the molecules broke into charged fragments, forming a fluid capable of conducting electricity that behaves more like a weak metal, says study coauthor Marcus Knudson, a physicist at Sandia”
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Very interesting experimental technique and result. I am a bit surprised that they infer that this is the first time that Water has been subjected to this pressure - I believed that it had been done many years ago in diamond anvil cells.
On second reflection - perhaps that has been done, and that the reason for the electrical properties is not the pressure, but the shock wave that this sample was subjected to. I don’t see how it would be possible to separate the effects of shock from the effects of the pressure using this technique.
