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Tetrahedrality Is Key to the Uniqueness of Water
Tetrahedrality Is Key to the Uniqueness of Water

A Japan-based research team studied the anomalous behavior of tetrahedral liquids, such as water. By computer simulation, they calculated the phase diagrams of a range of model liquids. Varying a parameter called lambda (λ), which controls the amount of tetrahedral structure in the liquid, they found that liquids with greater λ showed more anomalies, such as low-temperature expansion. Water's value of λ maximizes the effect of tetrahedrality, hence its especially unusual properties.

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