Water; traversing tiny pores (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, August 05, 2024, 16:23 (113 days ago) @ David Turell

Acts as a dipole:

https://www.sciencealert.com/water-does-something-very-weird-when-it-gets-trapped-in-ti...

"Predicting how liquid H2O squeezes its way through molecular-scale plumbing requires a level of simulation that currently taxes even the most powerful computers.

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"Don't let water's apparent simplicity fool you. Inside every molecule there's a single oxygen bullying its hydrogen sidekicks for more than its fair share of electron time, creating an imbalance in charge referred to as a dipole. (my bold)

"This imbalance gives water its mix of unusual properties, allowing it to loosely stick together in ways that account for surface tension, or to spread out in a wide variety of formations as it freezes into ice.

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"Packing water molecules into carbon nanotubes narrower than 10 nanometers in diameter has revealed new phases of water in the past and been shown to facilitate a far more rapid transfer of protons down one-dimensional chains of water molecules.

"Expanding the pore size has also hinted at the formation of ice structures that wouldn't be seen in larger bodies of water.

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"In their simulation, the dielectric constant on the axis of the carbon nanotubes increased as the diameter of the tubes got smaller. It peaked at 0.79 nanometers, where the water molecules are forced to line up in a single file.

"Mapping the enhancement of the water's dielectric effect at these small scales could provide molecular biologists with vital clues on the flow of water and other materials through tiny cellular channels, or help researchers tailor pharmaceuticals that might operate more effectively in solutions confined in small spaces.

"'Fundamental studies of the confinement effect on water's dielectric constant are beneficial to understand and improve current technologies," says Anh Pham, a computational materials scientist at LLNL.

***

"In their simulation, the dielectric constant on the axis of the carbon nanotubes increased as the diameter of the tubes got smaller. It peaked at 0.79 nanometers, where the water molecules are forced to line up in a single file.

"Mapping the enhancement of the water's dielectric effect at these small scales could provide molecular biologists with vital clues on the flow of water and other materials through tiny cellular channels, or help researchers tailor pharmaceuticals that might operate more effectively in solutions confined in small spaces.

"'Fundamental studies of the confinement effect on water's dielectric constant are beneficial to understand and improve current technologies," says Anh Pham, a computational materials scientist at LLNL."

Comment: water's magical properties are gradually being revealed. Previous entries here describe them.