Civil Engineering And Engineering Mechanics Seminar

Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics

Seminar Announcement

Friday, April 5, 2013

CE 201 12:00pm – 1:00pm

Solvation, Assembly, and Crystallization in the Alkane Lakes of Saturn’s Moon Titan

L. René Corrales Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Abstract

Saturn’s moon Titan undergoes a methane based meteorological cycle indicative of a methane rich atmosphere and “lakes” of liquid methane. Radiation chemistry is prevalent in the nitrogen rich atmosphere that leads to the formation of a rich array of molecules that can include nitrogen such as hydrogen cyanide. Of particular interest is the ability of radiation-synthesized molecules to assemble so as to provide unique microscopic environments where chemistry can occur that would not otherwise occur in the non-polar alkane solvent (e.g. the alkane lakes). Such assembly leads to unexpected solvation behavior consistent to what is found from interpretation of satellite data.

All are welcome