Description:

Title: The Puzzle of Liquid Water: New Insights for Physics, Chemistry, & Biology

Speaker:Eugene Stanley, Boston University 

Abstract: We will discuss recent progress in understanding water's 73 documented
anomalies. We will combine information provided by new experiments
and new simulations on water in bulk, nanoconfined, and biological
environments designed to test the hypothesis that liquid water has
behavior consistent with the novel phenomenon of “liquid polymorphism”
--- that at sufficiently low temperature water can exist in two
distinct phases. We will also briefly discuss how the general concept
of liquid polymorphism is proving useful in understanding anomalies in
other liquids, such as silicon, silica, and carbon, which have in
common that they are characterized by two characteristic length scales
in their interactions.

Host: Motter

Speaker Schedule

Keywords: Physics, Astronomy, colloquium