Abstract:

Water has a series of unique properties that make it completely irreplaceable as the matrix of life. The oceans help maintain the climate through its high heat capacity. Water’s density maximum at 4 degrees Celsius makes ice float, allowing for the existence of marine life. Its complex structural network drives the formation of biological assemblies. To fully understand the cause of its strange behaviour, we must investigate liquid water when its anomalies are at their peak - when water is cooled far below its freezing point.

In this talk, I will give a summary of our explorations of deeply supercooled water. I will show the different ways in which we probe how water molecules assemble and move. I will discuss how the different structures that water molecules can form, and how these evolve and rearrange, give rise to water’s unique abilities.