May 19, 2026 · 25 min · 17 segments
Over the past decade, computer simulations have predicted tens of thousands of possible forms of ice. Though uncommon on our planet, exotic ice may exist in off-Earth environments, from cold and…
It's an oxygen and two hydrogens attached to it, and you might remember from chemistry class that this is a bent molecule.
So rather than the hydrogens sticking out straight in a line, they stick out at a very specific angle.
And the reason for this bent shape is that aside from the two hydrogens you have, the oxygen also has a few other unbonded electrons, and they stick out on the other end, and they kind of are invisible in this little picture of the H2O molecule that we're used to looking at.
But all of these different electrons, both the ones that are bonded to the hydrogen and the extra ones, they all repel each other electrically, and so they force each other to spread out in this very specific angular way.
So when you have a bunch of water molecules and you cool them down, they will orient each other so that the free electrons are attracted to the hydrogen of the other H2O molecules, and they'll form a repeating structure.
So the fact that ice is a crystal means that if you look at it microscopically and you look at all the molecules, it's in some repeating structure.
It's an oxygen and two hydrogens attached to it, and you might remember from chemistry class that this is a bent molecule.
So rather than the hydrogens sticking out straight in a line, they stick out at a very specific angle.
And the reason for this bent shape is that aside from the two hydrogens you have, the oxygen also has a few other unbonded electrons, and they stick out on the other end, and they kind of are invisible in this little picture of the H2O molecule that we're used to looking at.
But all of these different electrons, both the ones that are bonded to the hydrogen and the extra ones, they all repel each other electrically, and so they force each other to spread out in this very specific angular way.
So when you have a bunch of water molecules and you cool them down, they will orient each other so that the free electrons are attracted to the hydrogen of the other H2O molecules, and they'll form a repeating structure.
So the fact that ice is a crystal means that if you look at it microscopically and you look at all the molecules, it's in some repeating structure.
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3 of 7
Ice 21: Most Complex Yet
How a lab mistake rewrote ice science
Ice 22 Ups The Complexity
The next phase may be even stranger
Room-Temperature Ice, Planetary Pressures
The wild conditions that birthed Ice
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