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by mwigdahl 57 days ago
I was surprised to see no reference to ice-9 from Kurt Vonnegut's _Cat's Cradle_...
3 comments
Matterless 57 days ago
Right?! Anyway for anyone who hasn't read it, go pick up a copy. Cat's Cradle is not too long, and it's funny and engaging and altogether worthwhile. And you'll always think of ice/9 when you see an article like this one.
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gilleain 57 days ago
Well, the image titled 'The Shapes of Water' has 4 examples - 'Ice Ih', 'Ice VIII', 'Ice XV', and ... 'Ice IX' :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phases_of_ice#Known_phases - in this table, apparently discovered in 1968

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goodmythical 57 days ago
Just a good idea to keep it all in the lab. Wouldn't want to accidentally end all life.

Imagine we do all this worrying about nukes and climate change and germ warfare and we end up accidentally solidifying room temperature water.

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