Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 26, 2026

Controlling the Size, Shape and Stability of Supramolecular Polymers in Water
Published on: August 2, 2012
Influence of energy and entropy on the melting of sodium clusters
M Schmidt1, J Donges, Th Hippler
1Laboratoire Aimé Cotton, CNRS II, Bâtiment 505, Campus d'Orsay, 91405 Orsay CEDEX, France.
Abstract:
Energetic and entropic influences on the melting temperatures of size selected sodium clusters are experimentally separated. It is shown that the energetic difference between solid and liquid is the leading influence for the still puzzling features in the size dependence of sodium melting points. Additionally, this energy difference decreases towards smaller cluster sizes and causes steplike melting phase transitions to vanish. The entropy difference between solid and liquid has been found to be strongly correlated with the energy and causes a pronounced damping of the energetic influences.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Entropy
Entropy
When an ideal gas expands isothermally, the disorder in the gas increases. From the molecular perspective, the gas molecules have more volume to move around in.
Consider an infinitesimal step in the expansion, which...
Entropy and Solvation
The Born-Haber Cycle
Trends in Lattice Energy: Ion Size and Charge
Phase Transitions: Melting and Freezing

