Vibrational spectroscopies tagged posts

The lifetime of local water structures is probed using ultrafast laser pulses. Credit: © Yuki Nagata / MPI-P

The local structural dynamics of liquid water, such as how quickly water molecules change their binding state, has now been characterized by a team of scientists. Using innovative ultrafast vibrational spectroscopies, the researchers show why liquid water is so unique compared to other molecular liquids.

With the help of a novel combination of ultrafast laser experiments, the scientists found that local structures persist in water for longer than a picosecond, a picosecond (ps) being one thousandth of one billionth of a second (10-12 s). This observation changes the general perception of water as a solvent. “71% of Earth’s surface is covered with water...