On the applicability of Young-Laplace equation for nanoscale liquid drops

Debates continue on the applicability of the Young-Laplace equation for droplets, vapor bubbles and gas bubbles in nanoscale. It is more meaningful to find the error range of the Young-Laplace equation in nanoscale instead of making the judgement of its applicability. To do this, for seven liquid argon drops (containing 800, 1000, 1200, 1400, 1600, 1800, or 2000 particles, respectively) at T = 78 K we determined the radius of surface of tension R (s) and the corresponding surface tension gamma (s) by molecular dynamics simulation based on the expressions of R (s) and gamma (s) in terms of the pressure distribution for droplets. Compared with the two-phase pressure difference directly obtained by MD simulation, the results show that the absolute values of relative error of two-phase pressure difference given by the Young-Laplace equation are between 0.0008 and 0.027, and the surface tension of the argon droplet increases with increasing radius of surface of tension, which supports that the Tolman length of Lennard-Jones droplets is positive and that Lennard-Jones vapor bubbles is negative. Besides, the logic error in the deduction of the expressions of the radius and the surface tension of surface of tension, and in terms of the pressure distribution for liquid drops in a certain literature is corrected

Shear moduli in bcc-fcc structure transition of colloidal crystals

Shear moduli variation in the metastable-stable structure transition of charged colloidal crystals was investigated by the combination techniques of torsional resonance spectroscopy and reflection spectrometer. Modulus of the system increases with the proceeding of the transition process and it finally reaches the maximum value at the end of the transition. For colloidal crystals in stable state, the experimental moduli show good consistence with theoretical expectations. However, in the transition process, the moduli are much smaller than theoretical ones and this can be chalked up to crystalline imperfection in the transition state. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC

Expressions of the radius and the surface tension of surface of tension in terms of the pressure distribution for nanoscale liquid threads

The expressions of the radius and the surface tension of surface of tension Rs and γs in terms of the pressure distribution for nanoscale liquid threads are of great importance for molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the interfacial phenomena of nanoscale fluids; these two basic expressions are derived in this paper. Although these expressions were derived first in the literature [Kim B G, Lee J S, Han M H, and Park S, 2006 Nanoscale and Microscale Thermophysical Engineering, 10, 283] and used widely thereafter, the derivation is wrong both in logical structure and physical thought. In view of the importance of these basic expressions, the logic and physical mistakes appearing in that derivation are pointed out

Microscopic Expression of the Surface Tension of Nano-Scale Cylindrical Liquid and Applicability of the Laplace Equation

There is no consensus on whether the macroscopic Laplace Equation of capillarity is applicable for nanoscale systems. The microscopic expression for the radius and surface tension of the surface of tension for cylindrical liquid were deduced on Gibbs theory of capillarity. The radii and tensions of the surfaces of tension and the differences between internal and outside pressure for several argon liquid cylinders consisting of different numbers of atoms with Lennard-Jones (LJ) potential under the temperature of 90 K were obtained by combination of molecular dynamics simulation and calculation. The results suggested that Laplace equation could be applicable in nanoscale with fairly good approximation

A generalized Young's equation for contact angles of droplets on homogeneous and rough substrates

Using Gibbs' method of dividing surfaces, the contact angle of a drop on a flat homogeneous rough non-deformable solid substrate is investigated. For this system, a new generalized Young's equation for the contact angle, including the influences of line tension and which valid for any dividing surface between liquid phase and vapor phase is derived. Under some assumptions, this generalized Young's equation reduces to the Wenzel's equation or Rosanov's equation valid for the surface of tension