Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Sosso GC
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4939469 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Sosso Gabriele C GC Li Tianshu T Donadio Davide D Tribello Gareth A GA Michaelides Angelos A
The journal of physical chemistry letters 20160610 13
Most ice in nature forms because of impurities which boost the exceedingly low nucleation rate of pure supercooled water. However, the microscopic details of ice nucleation on these substances remain largely unknown. Here, we have unraveled the molecular mechanism and the kinetics of ice formation on kaolinite, a clay mineral playing a key role in climate science. We find that the formation of ice at strong supercooling in the presence of this clay is about 20 orders of magnitude faster than hom ...[more]