Theoretical and experimental crystal chemistry

矿物是地球的基本物质，如果我们想要了解形成地球的过程，并继续改变地球的景观和人类环境，我们需要了解矿物在地球上经历的各种条件下的行为。这一建议侧重于各种各样的矿物，试图在原子尺度上了解它们的组成和行为，并利用这种理解来合理化和预测它们在宏观尺度(人类直接感知的尺度)上的行为。我使用各种形式的辐射(X射线、中子)在原子尺度上看到一种矿物，并得出构成它的原子的排列。有关原子无序行为的细节可以通过其他形式的辐射(红外线、伽马射线)辨别出来。由此得到的矿物图片使我们能够了解这些矿物是如何形成的，以及在什么条件下(例如，高温或低温)。大约有4200种矿物，我们现在有足够的信息，试图从全球角度了解矿物的组成和行为，并解决诸如以下一般性问题：矿物中存在什么原子排列？有哪些因素影响这些安排的存在？什么因素控制着矿物的化学成分？在各种条件下，我们如何预测矿物的物理和化学性质？这里提出的工作从根本上解决了其中的几个问题，并将进一步加深我们对不同地球材料以及它们对环境变化的反应方式的理解。

Minerals are the fundamental materials of the Earth, and if we wish to understand the processes which formed the Earth, and which continue to modify its landscape and the human environment, we need to understand the behaviour of minerals under the full spectrum of conditions experienced on Earth. This proposal focuses on a wide variety of minerals in an attempt to understand their constitution and behaviour at the atomic scale, and use this understanding to rationalize and predict their behaviour at the macroscopic scale (the scale of direct human perception). I use various forms of radiation (X-rays, neutrons) to 'see' into a mineral at the atomic scale, and to derive the arrangement of atoms from which it is built. Details concerning the disorderly behaviour of atoms can be discerned with other forms of radiation (infrared, gamma rays). The resulting pictures of the minerals allow us to understand aspects of how these minerals formed, and at what conditions (e.g., high or low temperature). There are approximately 4200 minerals, and we now have sufficient information available to try to understand the constitution and behaviour of minerals from a global perspective, and address such general questions as: What arrangements of atoms occur in minerals? What factors affect the existence of these arrangements? What factors control the chemical compositions of minerals? How can we predict the physical and chemical properties of minerals under a wide variety of conditions? The work proposed here addresses several of these problems from a fundamental perspective, and will further our understanding of different Earth materials and the way that they respond to changes in their environment.