THE LEVICH INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES THE FOLLOWING SEMINAR

Tuesday, 12/12/2000 4:00 PM Steinman Hall, Room #1M-22 Dr. Silvina Tomassone The Levich Institute City College of CUNY "Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Gaseous-Liquid Phase Transitions of Soluble and Insoluble Surfactants at a Fluid Interface"

ABSTRACT

Although medium chain length insoluble amphiphiles are well known to form gaseous and liquid expanded phases on an air/water interface, the situation for the soluble case is less clear. We perform molecular dynamics simulations of model surfactant molecules dissolved in a bulk liquid solvent in coexistence with its vapor. Our results indicate a transition in both soluble and insoluble surfactants: a plateau in surface tension vs. surface coverage, whose instantaneous configurations display two phase coexistence, along with correlation functions indicating a transition to gaseous to liquid-like behavior.

BRIEF ACADEMIC/EMPLOYMENT HISTORY:

• Ph.D. in Physics, Northeastern University, 1998. Advisors: Prof. J. Krim and Prof. Sokoloff
• 1994-1998, Northeastern University, Boston, Teaching Research Assistant.
• 1999-present, Levich Institute, CCNY, New York, Postdoctoral Fellow

Return to Spring, 2001 Seminar Schedule