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Metallic Solids

Metallic Solids

Metallic solids such as crystals of copper, aluminum, and iron are formed by metal atoms. The structure of metallic crystals is often described as a uniform distribution of atomic nuclei within a “sea” of delocalized electrons. The atoms within such a metallic solid are held together by a unique force known as metallic bonding that gives rise to many useful and varied bulk properties.
All metallic solids exhibit high thermal and electrical conductivity, metallic luster, and malleability. Many...

Phase Transitions: Melting and Freezing

Phase Transitions: Melting and Freezing

Heating a crystalline solid increases the average energy of its atoms, molecules, or ions, and the solid gets hotter. At some point, the added energy becomes large enough to partially overcome the forces holding the molecules or ions of the solid in their fixed positions, and the solid begins the process of transitioning to the liquid state or melting. At this point, the temperature of the solid stops rising, despite the continual input of heat, and it remains constant until all of the solid is...

Solid–Solid Solutions

Solid–Solid Solutions

The temperature-composition phase diagram of two solids, A and B, which are immiscible in the solid phase but form miscible liquids, shows that when the temperature is low, these two exist as separate, pure solids (A and B). As the temperature increases, they transition into a single-phase liquid solution where A and B coexist. Moving from point a1 to a2 in the phase diagram, the composition changes such that solid B begins to separate from the solution, enriching the remaining liquid with A.

Bonding in Metals

Bonding in Metals

Metallic bonds are formed between two metal atoms. A simplified model to describe metallic bonding has been developed by Paul Drüde called the “Electron Sea Model”.

Mass Spectrometry: Alkyl Halide Fragmentation

Mass Spectrometry: Alkyl Halide Fragmentation

Chlorine isotopes exist as 35Cl and 37Cl in a 3:1 ratio, while bromine isotopes exist as 79Br and 81Br in a 1:1 ratio. The mass spectrum of alkyl halides typically produces two distinct molecular ion peaks, the molecular ion peak, [M], and the molecular ion plus two, [M + 2] peak. The relative heights of these two peaks are proportional to the isotopic abundance ratios of the halide. For example, 2‐chloropropane and 1‐bromopropane display two peaks with relative peak heights in a 3:1 and 1:1...

Colloidal precipitates

Colloidal precipitates

The high insolubility of some precipitates can result in an unfavorable relative supersaturation. This can lead to colloidal particles with a large surface-to-mass ratio, where adsorption is promoted. For instance, in the precipitation of silver chloride, silver ions are adsorbed on the surface of the colloidal particles, forming a primary layer. This layer attracts ions of opposite charge (such as nitrate ions), forming a diffuse secondary layer of adsorbed ions. This electric double layer...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Methods of Ex Situ and In Situ Investigations of Structural Transformations: The Case of Crystallization of Metallic Glasses

Methods of Ex Situ and In Situ Investigations of Structural Transformations: The Case of Crystallization of Metallic Glasses

Published on: June 7, 2018

Phase coexistence in melting aluminum clusters.

Baopeng Cao¹, Anne K Starace, Oscar H Judd

¹Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, 800 East Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA.

The Journal of Chemical Physics

|June 3, 2009

Summary

Melting aluminum cluster cations exhibit bimodal internal energy distributions, indicating distinct solid and liquid states during phase transitions. This behavior depends on the time scales of melting and equilibration.

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Area of Science:

Physical Chemistry
Materials Science
Nanotechnology

Background:

Understanding phase transitions in nanoscale systems is crucial for materials science.
Aluminum cluster cations provide a model system for studying melting dynamics at the atomic level.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the internal energy distributions of melting aluminum cluster cations.
To determine the nature of the phase transition in small aluminum clusters.

Main Methods:

Multicollision induced dissociation was used to probe cluster internal energies.
Experimental data were analyzed using a statistical thermodynamic model.

Main Results:

Melting aluminum cluster cations displayed bimodal internal energy distributions, characteristic of distinct solid and liquid phases.
The results suggest that for smaller clusters (Al100+, Al101+), the melting-freezing transition time exceeds energy equilibration time.
Larger clusters (Al126+, Al127+) showed partially filled bimodal distributions, indicating shorter transition times or a shift towards macroscopic behavior.

Conclusions:

The phase transition in small aluminum clusters is best described by a model with discrete solid and liquid states.
Cluster size influences the dynamics of the melting and freezing processes.
The findings offer insights into the fundamental physics of phase transitions at the nanoscale.