Theory of liquids and liquid mixtures and of their phase equilibria and interfaces

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Benjamin Widom of Cornell University is supported by an award from the Theoretical and Computational chemistry program for the theoretical study, by the methods of statistical mechanics and thermodynamics, of the energetics and structures of liquids and liquid mixtures, of the phase transitions such fluids undergo and of the structures and structural transformations of the interfaces between fluid phases. One study focuses on the borderline between two types of wetting transition, where a range of first-order wetting transitions and one of second-order transitions join at a point of "tri-critical" wetting; and to study the behavior of the line tension as that tricritical point is approached. Another study focuses on hydrophobic effects.The studies have broad impact in many important and very different areas of science, technology and society. For example, wetting is a central concern in soil science; it is crucial in industrial flotation and separation systems; it is also crucial for the proper action for the lungs in respiration. Hydrophobic effects have numerous manifestations throughout chemistry and biology.