Ice-nine

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Ice-nine is a fictional material conceived by science fiction writer Kurt Vonnegut in his novel Cat's Cradle. It is supposed to be a special allotrope of ice that only melts at 114.4 degrees Fahrenheit (45.8 °C); when it comes into contact with liquid water, it acts a crystal "seed", and will catalyze the solidification (freezing) of any normal water at ambient temperatures—thus being capable of destroying the world as we know it.

Vonnegut came across the idea while working at General Electric:

The author Vonnegut credits the invention of ice-nine to Irving Langmuir, who pioneered the study of thin films and interfaces. While working in the public relations office at General Electric, Vonnegut came across a story of how Langmuir, who won the 1932 Nobel Prize for his work at General Electric, was charged with the responsibility of entertaining the author, H.G. Wells, who was visiting the company in the early 1930’s. Langmuir is said to have come up with an idea about a form of solid water that was stable at room temperature in the hopes that Wells might be inspired to write a story about it. Apparently, Wells was not inspired and neither he nor Langmuir ever published anything about it. After Langmuir and Wells had died, Vonnegut decided to use the idea in his book, Cat’s Cradle.

Contents

1 Non-fiction
2 In popular culture
3 References
4 Further reading

Non-fiction

While multiple allotropic forms of ice do exist (they can be created under pressure), none have the properties described in this book, and none are stable at normal earth-surface pressures and temperatures above the ordinary melting point of ice. The real Ice IX has none of the properties of Vonnegut's creation, and can exist only at extremely low temperatures and high pressures.

The Ice-nine phenomenon has, in fact, occurred with a few other kinds of crystals, called "disappearing polymorphs." In these cases, a new variant of a crystal has been introduced into an environment, replacing many of the older form crystals with its own form. One example is the anti-AIDS medicine [retrovanir], where the newer version destroyed the effectiveness of the drug. A [second example], according to some scientists and the finding of a court, is the anti-depressant drug Paxil. The court was deciding a dispute over whether a manufacturer of the older and off-patent version of Paxil violated a patent on the newer crystal. The new crystal allegedly seeded the manufacturing environment, forcing the alleged infringer to manufacture a drug that included the newer patent-infringing crystals. A similar transformation occurs in tin pest, wherein pure tin changes crystalline form from white tin to grey tin when the material falls below 13.2 degrees Celsius (about 56 degrees Fahrenheit). The reaction accelerates, indicating that the new form catalyzes further transformation of the old form.

An eerie development was the alleged discovery of polywater, announced by Soviet scientists only a few years after the publication of Cat's Cradle. The new substance was claimed to exhibit properties similar to Ice-nine, and the possibility of a chain reaction was discussed. Polywater turned out not to exist, however.

"Ice-nine" has been used as a metaphor for highly infectious agents, or for anything that converts other things to more of itself. Related notions include grey goo (hypothetical self-replicating nanotechnology) and prions (the self-replicating protein structures thought responsible for mad cow disease).

In popular culture

Ice-Nine is the name of the publishing company for the band the Grateful Dead.
A song titled "Ice 9" is found on Joe Satriani's album Surfing With the Alien.
In the Alias episode "Ice", a similar substance called "Ice-5" appears (mainly as a plot device).
In the webcomic 8-Bit Theater, the character Red Mage uses the Ice-9 spell on a pocket universe, freezing it in its entirety. This is also a reference to the Final Fantasy series habit of numbering elemental spells in order of strength. (Ice, Ice2 and Ice3).
Ice-9 was the name of a computer virus in the 2003 film The Recruit. The film also references the book Cat's Cradle multiple times.
In the Futurama Episode "War is the H-Word", a sign reads "Free bag of Ice-9 with 6-pack".
An Israeli rock band is called Kerach Tesha, meaning "Ice Nine".
Susumu Hirasawa released an album in 2005 titled Ice-9.
A Russian band Smyslovye Gallucinacii released an album titled "Led 9" (Ice 9) in 2001.
In Douglas Coupland's novel, JPod, the characters discuss Ice-9 after freezing puddles with liquid nitrogen.
In the Marvel comic book Ghost Rider 2099, there was a mercenary whose name was Ice-9.
A band in Massachusetts is named "Ice Nine Kills" after ice-nine.

Ice-nine

Non-fiction

In popular culture

References

Further reading