‘Simulations and Experiments Reveal Unprecedented Detail about Water's Motion in Salt Water’
#ScienceNews #ScienceDaily #NewYorkUniversity #AlexejJerschow #NYUDepartmentOfChemistry

“Ions in a water-based solution are typically surrounded by four to six water molecules, but it is not well understood to what extent these molecules move as a unit and how much motion the water molecules experience.

“Testing #SaltWater over a wide range of concentrations and temperatures, and combining experimental data and computer simulations, the researchers observed that water molecules wiggle around the sodium and chloride ions at an extremely rapid pace—more than a trillion times a second. In addition, it was previously assumed that ions move together with surrounding solvent molecules as a unit, but the experiment showed that this is not the case; instead, the water molecules wiggle much faster than the ion-water complex.”

The findings, published in #NatureCommunications, will allow researchers to build more reliable models for predicting ion dynamics, which could be used for a variety of scientific endeavors, from improving rechargeable batteries to MRIs.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/01/230119185802.htm