Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 22, 2026

Analyzing Melts and Fluids from Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Simulations with the UMD Package
Published on: September 17, 2021
Tunable Liquid-Liquid Critical Point in an Ionic Model of Silica
1Center for Polymer Studies and Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA.
Abstract:
Recently, it was shown that the Woodcock-Angell-Cheeseman model for liquid silica [L. V. Woodcock, C. A. Angell, and P. Cheeseman, J. Chem. Phys. 65, 1565 (1976)] is remarkably close to having a liquid-liquid critical point (LLCP). We demonstrate that increasing the ion charge separates the global maxima of the response functions, while reducing the charge smoothly merges them into a LLCP, a phenomenon that might be experimentally observable with charged colloids. An analysis of the Si and O coordination numbers suggests that a sufficiently low Si/O coordination number ratio is needed to attain a LLCP.
Related Concept Videos
Liquid–Solid Solutions
pV-Diagrams
Two Components: Liquid–Liquid Systems
Silica Gel Column Chromatography: Overview
Polar components tend to bind strongly to the silica gel, causing them to move slowly through the column. In contrast, nonpolar compounds...
Nonideal Two-Component Liquid Solutions
Solid–Solid Solutions

