Introduction

We have used molecular dynamics simulations to make "movies" of the different phases of matter (solids, liquids, and gases), with a particular focus on gases and mixtures of gases.

The movies on this page are each about 9.5~Mb in size.

Simulations of pure methane

(modeled as a single spherical particle)

A solid at T=15.7 K

A solid at T=78.5 K

A liquid at T=125.6 K

A (dense) gas at T=125.6 K

A (dense) gas at T=314 K. Also available in a bigger simulation cell.

Methane gas at T=298 K and 1 atm. pressure

Simulations of a mixture of methane and xenon

These movies show nicely how the heavier (xenon) atoms move much more slowly than the light methane molecules, even though they are at the same temperature.

Methane/Xenon mixture at T=314 K

Methane/Xenon mixture at T=471 K. Also available in a smaller simulation cell. (This is my favorite movie of the bunch.)

Technical Details

Will put these up soon. Briefly, these are straightforward thermostatted molecular dynamics simulations of the Lennard-Jones potential. Frames are rendered with POV-RAY, and the movies are assembled and edited with MainActor.

Credits

Andrea Delapaz did everything! Thanks, Andrea!