Kinetics of Nucleation in Phase Changes of Large Molecular Clusters

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In this project in the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program of the Chemistry Division, Bartell will study the kinetics of homogeneous nucleation in condensed matter using both experiments and numerical computations. Among the methods to be used are a new real-time electron diffraction experimental technique and a complementary computational technique involving Monte Carlo and Molecular Dynamics calculations. Nucleation rates will be studied for a variety of systems, the principal of which is water, which exhibits poorly understood and anomalous behavior. Water is important in many fields besides chemistry, such as atmospheric science, biology, and materials processing. The experimental and calculational studies in this project will help in our understanding of such phenomena as the condensation or freezing of water, very elementary processes which we still can not describe well.