Phase Separation of Binary Clusters

Mixtures of two chemical species may sometimes separate into two distinct phases. An oil-water mixture is a familiar example. The movie shows the analog of this phase separation or de-mixing process in microscopic clusters composed of about 100 molecules. The different segments of the movie consider cases where dumbbell-shaped or spherical clusters are formed depending on the nature of the molecules. The science behind the simulation is the study of the new properties matter exhibits on small length scales.

A.S. Clarke, R. Kapral, B. Moore, G. Patey and X.-G. Wu, Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 3283 (1993).

A.S. Clarke, R. Kapral and G. Patey, J. Chem. Phys. 101, 2432 (1994).

[movie icon] Formation of a dumbbell-shaped cluster. (.60 MB mpeg-1 movie)

[movie icon] Formation of a spherical cluster. (1.07 MB mpeg-1 movie)