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Posted by: ngunn Jan 23 2021, 04:02 PM

I wasn't sure where to post this as the article and linked paper descibe work with relevance far beyond one world. Nevertheless its possible bearing on the long term persistence of atmospheric and surface methane on Titan seems like a reason for flagging it here.
Science Daily article: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/01/210119102853.htm
Paper (open access): http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/abc3c0

Posted by: HSchirmer Jan 23 2021, 05:51 PM

Interesting- because it appears that liquid water ALSO forms clathrates around positive & negative ions.

In grad school, I did some research into ionic charge shielding by water polarization, as part of studies of ion chelation photospectroscopy. In English, the water around positive ions is electrostatically "frozen" into clathrate structures- shells of water where the negative oxygen is pulled towards the ion with the positive hydrogens sticking out, which structures another shell of water where the negative oxygen is pulled towards the positive hydrogen, and so on.

Another interesting point, recent studies indicate that liquid water is a eutectic, an array of molecules which flick back and forth between 2 or 3 crystal structures.