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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 7, 2000)
Groups gear up for new center CENTER from pagel Professor finds new ice form BY SHARON KOLBET Heat it up and it becomes vapor, cool it down and you get ice. But put water in a situation of extreme pressure and tempera ture and you get an unusual struc ture known as “Nebraska” ice. In a paper published in the Nov. 30 edition of Nature journal, UNL Chemistry professor Xiao Cheng Zeng and Japanese chemists, Kenichiro Koga and Hideki Tanaka reported further developments with this new form of ice that is gaining international attention. “I received an e-mail from Great Britain and Taiwan today. They were asking about ‘Nebraska’ ice.” Zeng said. The trio of chemists are receiv ing numerous inquiries about the frozen molecular structure because it is unlike any other ice previously known. “We call it ‘Nebraska’ ice since the word Nebraska comes from the Otoe word for ‘flat water,’” Zeng said. “This name is very appropriate since this ice is as flat as it can be.” Other types of crystalline ice have been found by other research facilities, but they all pos sess the expected three-dimen sional structure. The ice discov ered by Zeng and his colleagues differs significantly because it is two dimensional. When the research team came across the results in 1997 the find ings were completely unexpected. Zeng said he was concerned he made a mistake, but after contin uing the trials for nearly six months the researchers proved die results were correct Using a computer model, the researchers saw that the water was doing something unusual by forming crystals and shrinking instead of expanding. It is known that water, unlike most liquids, expands when it freezes. But Zeng and his colleagues found a situa tion where the molecules did the opposite. The discovery was made using extremes of temperature, pressure and confinement There were 493 atmospheres of pressure at minus 40 degrees Celsius with the water molecules situated between two water repellent plates spaced one billionth of a meter apart Further work with this “Nebraska” ice has yielded even greater mysteries. The paper pub lished in Nature details the latest twist in the “Nebraska” ice phe nomenon. After three years of work the research team produced a frozen water molecule that is not only two dimensional but also more closely resembles glass than ice. “Normal ice is a crystal, it forms very ordered structures. “Nebraska” ice is amorphous like glass, it does not have a crystalline structure,” Zeng said. Kenichiro Koga of Fukuoka Courtesy of X.CZeng Molecular models of "Nebraska” ice. University in Japan was a postdoc toral researcher at UNL working with Zeng when they found “Nebraska” ice. “We were very excited with our discovery.” Koga said "No one had ever found ice like this before.” In regard to immediate appli cations, Koga said the finding could be useful for studying bio logical systems. “The information is relevant in the study of cells. Within the human body there exists water between proteins and inside pro teins. These findings may help sci entists learn more about these biological systems.” Organization and a member of Lincoln Friends of Foreign Students, said getting a new building is a great opportunity but not absolutely necessary. He said the move would make the center more accessible and recognizable to students, but the current Culture Center has things to offer, too. This is the first year that ISO and LFFS have had an office in the center. The two share a room on die second floor. It’s nice to have storage space and access to a phone and a computer, he said. The only problem Biggs said he sees with the building is its lack of handicap accessibility. But Mark Wah, secretary of the Malaysian Student Association, said there were more problems than that “(A new building) is long overdue," Wah said. “The current center definitely doesn’t serve its purpose.” The lack of air conditioning and heat is troublesome, he said, as is the small office space the organization has. Because there is a large minority population on campus, Wah said it is important to give them a nice space to gather in. “Now, the Culture Center doesn't serve as a common place,” he said. The new center would be built in the space that is now a parking lot on die east side of die union. James Griesen, vice chancel lor for student affairs, said last week he would ask Alpha Phi sorority and the State Historical Society what they thought about building the center next to their properties before plans went fur ther. Katherine Brady, president of Alpha Phi, said her house hadn’t had time to formulate an opin ion on the matter. But Brady said she didn’t expect it to be a prob lem. “A nice-looking building would be better than the parking lot that is there now,” she said. “It will probably end up being a good thing.” Brady said the issue would be brought up more formally in the spring. Tony Schmitz, deputy direc tor of the State Historical Society, did not return phone calls to the Daily Nebraskan on Wednesday. FREE Nokia 252 Phone! ‘FREE Evening & Weekend Calling For Life! 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