Jonathan Toledo, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill


Effect of Solutes on the Microscopic Structure of a Model Solvent

Abstract: Changes in the microscopic structure of the solvent due to the introduction of solute molecules in the infinitely dilute limit are studied in a one dimensional model in which molecules interact only with their nearest neighbors via square well potentials. The pair distribution function for two solute molecules is calculated in terms of the thermodynamic variables and the potentials of interaction between molecules in the model, and is shown to demonstrate qualitative similarity with the pair distribution function for the pure solvent, as well as interesting new features.


Undergraduate Mentors: Roberto Paolo De Gregorio and Benjamin Widom, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University