<p> Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics</p><p>Seminar Announcement</p><p>Friday, April 5, 2013</p><p>CE 201 12:00pm – 1:00pm</p><p>Solvation, Assembly, and Crystallization in the Alkane Lakes of Saturn’s Moon Titan</p><p>L. René Corrales Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Department of Materials Science and Engineering</p><p>Abstract</p><p>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.</p><p>All are welcome</p>