Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 1 February 2008:
Vol. 319. no. 5863, pp. 582 - 587
DOI: 10.1126/science.1131939
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Review

Insights into Phases of Liquid Water from Study of Its Unusual Glass-Forming Properties

C. Austen Angell

The vitrification of pure water is compared with that of molecular solutions rich in water, and gross differences are noted. Thermodynamic reasoning and direct observations on noncrystallizing nanoconfined water indicate that the glass transition in ambient-pressure water is qualitatively distinct from that found in the usual molecular liquids. It belongs instead to the order-disorder class of transition seen in molecular and ionic crystalline materials. The distinctive "folding funnel" energy landscape for this type of system explains the extreme weakness of the glass transition of water as well as the consequent confusion that has characterized its scientific history; it also explains the very small excess entropy at the glass transition temperature. The relation of confined water behavior to that of bulk is discussed, and the "fragile-to-strong" transition for supercooled water is interpreted by adding a "critical point–free" scenario to the two competing scenarios for understanding supercooled bulk water.

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA. E-mail: caa{at}asu.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The inhomogeneous structure of water at ambient conditions.
C. Huang, K. T. Wikfeldt, T. Tokushima, D. Nordlund, Y. Harada, U. Bergmann, M. Niebuhr, T. M. Weiss, Y. Horikawa, M. Leetmaa, et al. (2009)
PNAS 106, 15214-15218
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
ESR evidence for 2 coexisting liquid phases in deeply supercooled bulk water.
D. Banerjee, S. N. Bhat, S. V. Bhat, and D. Leporini (2009)
PNAS 106, 11448-11453
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Ordered water structure at hydrophobic graphite interfaces observed by 4D, ultrafast electron crystallography.
D.-S. Yang and A. H. Zewail (2009)
PNAS 106, 4122-4126
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)