Strange State of Water Seems to Be Both Solid And Liquid at The Same Time

Water may seem boring, but it's way weirder than it looks. Scientists in Japan have now shown that when confined to tight spaces, water molecules can behave like both a solid and a liquid simultaneously.

The differences between liquid water and ice that we experience at the macro scale start at the micro. In ice, molecules are locked into rigid structures, while in water, they essentially float freely, constantly forming and breaking bonds.

In the peculiar state described in the new paper, the molecules kind of do both. They're in a fixed position, like ice, but spin quickly as they would in liquid. Known as the premelting state, this condition has previously eluded direct study.

"The premelting state involves the melting of incompletely hydrogen-bonded H 2 O before the completely