Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 18, 2025
08:37
Forming, Confining, and Observing Microtubule-Based Active Nematics
Published on: January 13, 2023
2.8K
Emergence of Intermediate Range Order in Jammed Packings
Joseph M Monti1, Ishan Srivastava2, Leonardo E Silbert3
1Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185, USA.
Physical Review Letters
|June 23, 2025
Summary
Increasing friction in sphere packings creates a structural prepeak, indicating intermediate-range order. This finding relates to local coordination number fluctuations in jammed granular materials.
Area of Science:
- Physics
- Materials Science
- Statistical Mechanics
Background:
- Understanding the structural properties of jammed granular materials is crucial for various scientific and engineering applications.
- The static structure factor provides insights into the spatial arrangement of particles in disordered systems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the structural signatures within the low-to-intermediate wave number region of the static structure factor.
- To elucidate the role of friction in the formation of structural order in large-scale jammed sphere packings.
Main Methods:
- Utilized discrete element method (DEM) simulations with up to 8x10^7 particles.
- Varied particle friction coefficients, including sliding, rolling, and twisting interactions.
- Analyzed the static structure factor and correlated it with real-space structural properties.
Main Results:
- Observed the emergence of a prepeak in the static structure factor at intermediate wave numbers, signifying intermediate-range order.
- This prepeak grows with increasing particle friction coefficient.
- Correlated the prepeak's emergence with fluctuations in the local coordination number, a characteristic of the packing's granular nature.
Conclusions:
- Friction plays a key role in establishing intermediate-range order in jammed sphere packings.
- The observed prepeak is linked to inherent fluctuations in local particle arrangements.
- Packing preparation history can influence large-scale structural properties, offering potential for controlled material design.
Related Concept Videos
01:10First Law: Particles in One-dimensional Equilibrium
7.1K
Newton's first law of motion states that a body at rest remains at rest, or if in motion, remains in motion at constant velocity, unless acted on by a net external force. It also states that there must be a cause for any change in velocity (a change in either magnitude or direction) to occur. This cause is a net external force. For example, consider what happens to an object sliding along a rough horizontal surface. The object quickly grinds to a halt, due to the net force of friction. If...
7.1K
01:18First Law: Particles in Two-dimensional Equilibrium
5.2K
Recall that a particle in equilibrium is one for which the external forces are balanced. Static equilibrium involves objects at rest, and dynamic equilibrium involves objects in motion without acceleration; but it is important to remember that these conditions are relative. For instance, an object may be at rest when viewed from one frame of reference, but that same object would appear to be in motion when viewed by someone moving at a constant velocity.
Newton's first law tells us about...
Newton's first law tells us about...
5.2K
01:21Polymer Classification: Crystallinity
3.1K
Unlike ionic or small covalent molecules, polymers do not form crystalline solids due to the diffusion limitations of their long-chain structures. However, polymers contain microscopic crystalline domains separated by amorphous domains.
Crystalline domains are the regions where polymer chains are aligned in an orderly manner and held together in proximity by intermolecular forces. For example, chains in the crystalline domains of polyethylene and nylon are bound together by van der Waals...
Crystalline domains are the regions where polymer chains are aligned in an orderly manner and held together in proximity by intermolecular forces. For example, chains in the crystalline domains of polyethylene and nylon are bound together by van der Waals...
3.1K
02:56Intermolecular Forces and Physical Properties
22.8K
22.8K
02:28Intermolecular Forces in Solutions
34.9K
The formation of a solution is an example of a spontaneous process, a process that occurs under specified conditions without energy from some external source.
When the strengths of the intermolecular forces of attraction between solute and solvent species in a solution are no different than those present in the separated components, the solution is formed with no accompanying energy change. Such a solution is called an ideal solution. A mixture of ideal gases (or gases such as helium and argon,...
When the strengths of the intermolecular forces of attraction between solute and solvent species in a solution are no different than those present in the separated components, the solution is formed with no accompanying energy change. Such a solution is called an ideal solution. A mixture of ideal gases (or gases such as helium and argon,...
34.9K
03:13Intermolecular Forces
61.4K
Atoms and molecules interact through bonds (or forces): intramolecular and intermolecular. The forces are electrostatic as they arise from interactions (attractive or repulsive) between charged species (permanent, partial, or temporary charges) and exist with varying strengths between ions, polar, nonpolar, and neutral molecules. The different types of intermolecular forces are ion–dipole, dipole–dipole, hydrogen bonds, and dispersion; among these, dipole–dipole, hydrogen...
61.4K