Close-up of salt dissolving in water
This is a snapshot of a computer simulation capturing in intimate detail the precise moment a chlorine ion (green) breaks away from a sodium chloride crystal into the water above. We're all familiar with salt dissolving in water, but this is the first time the molecular-level process has been modelled entirely with quantum mechanics. The simulation – which is incredibly demanding computationally, requiring hundreds of high performance processors to run for weeks on end – reveals that a chlorine ion initiates the dissolution process and then drags a sodium ion (blue) out behind it. For more information, click here.
This image was created by Dr Limin Liu and Dr Angelos Michaelides, both of the London Centre for Nanotechnology. It is one of set marking the inauguration of the Materials Simulation Laboratory, a network of the 30 and more UCL research groups engaged in the computer modelling of materials.
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