(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have known for generations that hot water can sometimes freeze faster than cold, an effect known as the Mpemba effect, but until now have not understood why. Several theories have been proposed, ...
It is widely accepted that the Earth's inner core formed about a billion years ago when a solid, super-hot iron nugget spontaneously began to crystallize inside a 4,200-mile-wide ball of liquid metal at the planet's center.
Earth Sciences
Feb 7, 2018
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Everyday transitions from one state of matter to another—such as freezing, melting or evaporation—start with a process called "nucleation," in which tiny clusters of atoms or molecules (called "nuclei") begin to coalesce. ...
Nanophysics
Jun 27, 2019
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A team based at Princeton University has accurately simulated the initial steps of ice formation by applying artificial intelligence (AI) to solving equations that govern the quantum behavior of individual atoms and molecules.
General Physics
Aug 8, 2022
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Researchers at The University of Tokyo Institute of Industrial Science conducted simulations considering and neglecting hydrodynamic interactions to determine whether or not these interactions cause the large discrepancy ...
Condensed Matter
Dec 21, 2019
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Concentric hexagons of graphene grown in a furnace at Rice University represent the first time anyone has synthesized graphene nanoribbons on metal from the bottom up—atom by atom.
Nanomaterials
Jul 18, 2013
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At the interface between chemistry and physics, the process of crystallization is omnipresent in nature and industry. It is the basis for the formation of snowflakes but also of certain active ingredients used in pharmacology. ...
Materials Science
Apr 21, 2022
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A team of theorists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has solved a long-standing puzzle in the nucleation of a high-pressure phase of ice known as ice VII, which is believed to exist near the core of "ocean ...
Condensed Matter
Oct 12, 2018
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Great science stems from curiosity and hard work. In this case, it all began with a broken freezer.
Condensed Matter
May 9, 2018
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From the splendorous red hues in the Grand Canyon to the mundane rust attacking a neglected bicycle, iron hydroxides are all around us. As a matter of fact, they are just as common as quartz, which is the most widely distributed ...
Earth Sciences
Nov 25, 2020
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Nucleation is the extremely localized budding of a distinct thermodynamic phase. Some examples of phases that may form by way of nucleation in liquids are gaseous bubbles, crystals or glassy regions. Creation of liquid droplets in saturated vapor is also characterized by nucleation (see Cloud condensation nuclei). Nucleation of crystalline, amorphous and even vacancy clusters solid materials is also important, for example to the semiconductor industry. Most nucleation processes are physical, rather than chemical, but a few exceptions do exist (e.g. electrochemical nucleation). A good example would be the famous Diet Coke and Mentos eruption. Nucleation normally occurs at nucleation sites on surfaces contacting the liquid or vapor. Suspended particles or minute bubbles also provide nucleation sites. This is called heterogeneous nucleation. Nucleation without preferential nucleation sites is homogeneous nucleation. Homogeneous nucleation occurs spontaneously and randomly, but it requires superheating or supercooling of the medium. Nucleation is involved in such processes as cloud seeding and in instruments such as the bubble chamber and the cloud chamber.
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