In the world, water is the most well-known liquid. It is involved in many chemical processes. There are no secrets held by the water molecule. Water has an oxygen atom and a hydrogen atom. The O-H legs form with each other. Water boiling or freezing is related to pressure.
There is a wide area of uncertainty because only statistical information is known about the behavior of the individual molecule. The interactions of the water molecule in the liquid phase are not as understood as in the gas state.
The pure liquid water was looked at.
A team led by HZB physicist Dr. Annette Pietzsch is looking at pure liquid water at room temperature. The scientists have succeeded in mapping the potential energy surfaces of the individual water molecule in the ground state, which come in a variety of shapes depending on their environment.
Measures of oscillations and vibrations were taken.
The method we used to study the water molecule on the beamline was special. Pietzsch says that they measured how individual molecule fell back into the ground state. A detailed picture of the potential surfaces was produced by combining model calculations with the low-energy excitations.
Pietzsch says the method gives them a way to determine the energy of a molecule. The results help to understand the chemistry of water.
The results were published in the national academy of sciences
There is an outlook for meTRIXS at BESSY II.
The next experiments will take place at the BESSY II X-ray source. The METRIXS measuring station has been set up by Annette Pietzsch and her team. Maintenance work on BESSY II will cause us to start with the first tests of our instruments. We can go on.
More information: Annette Pietzsch et al, Cuts through the manifold of molecular H2O potential energy surfaces in liquid water at ambient conditions, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2118101119 Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
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