Something weird happens when you keep squeezing

Under extreme pressures, matter defies the rules of physics as we know it. Help keep Vox free for everybody: Subscribe to our channel and turn on notifications (🔔) so you don’t miss any videos: Physicists have a pretty good handle on how stuff behaves on the surface of the Earth. But a lot of matter in the universe exists outside this narrow band of relatively low temperatures and pressures. Inside planets and stars, the crushing force of gravity begins to overwhelm the electromagnetic and nuclear forces that keep atoms apart and maintain the shapes of molecules. What happens next? Scientists (including a consortia of researchers at the NSF’s Center for Matter at Atomic Pressures​​) are just starting to figure that out. They use a variety of tools (including some humongous lasers) to simulate planetary cores and see what happens. A few standout findings so far: Water can become a hot black ice that co