The Forbidden State of Water

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]If you compress H2O molecules with enough force, we can observe a state of water that has no right to exist on Earth. If we compress water at pressures millions of times higher than the Earth's [music] atmosphere, with a value of about 60 gigapascals, that is 600,000 atmospheres, the H2O molecules can no longer maintain their shape. The asymmetric hydrogen bonds collapse, and a new phase takes over, ice X. Let's remember that asymmetric hydrogen bonds are interactions in which the hydrogen atom is bonded in a known equidistant way between two strongly electronegative atoms. The protons are pushed exactly halfway between the two [music] oxygen atoms, creating a continuous atomic crystal. That is a unique structure in which [music] the word molecule loses meaning. If we add heat at this point, and I mean thousands of degrees, the water enters the superionic state.