The translational and rotational motion of a camphor scraping at an air/water interface was investigated. The characteristics of the rotation depended on the temperature, surface tension, and the chemical structure of the camphor derivative. The direction of rotation, either clockwise or counterclockwise, is determined by asymmetry in the shape of the solid camphor scraping. The essential features of the motion of a camphor scraping were reproduced by a computer simulation. The driving force on this motion is believed to be the spatial heterogeneity of the camphor layer at the air-water interface.

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We have studied the blue-shifted and the red-shifted bands formed in mixed Langmuir–Blodgett films of the merocyanine dye (MS)-arachidic acid (C20)-n-octadecane (AL18) ternary system with the molar mixing ratio [MS]:[C20]:[AL18]=1:2:x(0.5≦x≦5.0). The formation of the blue-shifted and the red-shifted bands depends on the AL18 content, and shows that the aggregation state can be modulated by changing the AL18 content. The observed overlapping spectra of the blue-shifted and the red-shifted bands are deconvoluted into two original bands. The extended dipole model has been applied to examine the aggregation state of MS referring to the deconvoluted spectra. Thus the estimated minimum aggregation number Nmin and the slip angle α between the long axis of the aggregate and the transition dipole moment are Nmin=40 and α=30° and Nmin=40 and α=50° for fully-developed J- and H-aggregates, respectively, seen for x≦1.5, and Nmin tends to decrease with increasing x.

Control of the self-motion of a camphanic acid disk on water was investigated upon the addition of different kinds of surfactants (Triton X-100 and Brij58 as neutral surfactants, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as a cationic surfactant, and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as an anionic surfactant) to the water phase. With an increase in the concentration of surfactant, continuous motion changed to no motion via intermittent motion (repetition between motion and rest), and the concentration regions of these motions were different among these surfactants. Although the concentration regions of these motions were determined by the surface tension for neutral surfactants, they were different than those for CTAB and SDS. These characteristics of self-motion are discussed in relation to the surface tension, depending on the concentration of individual surfactants, and the hydrophilic effect of the surfactants.

Self-consistent tight-binding supercell calculations of localised defect levels and nearest-neighbour relaxations are presented for Cd, Hg and In interstitials at tetrahedral and hexagonal sites in CdTe and HgTe. The mechanisms driving the relaxation and the resulting character of the lattice distortion about various interstitials are insensitive to the alloy composition and should remain valid for interstitials in Hg-rich HgCdTe.

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The self-motion of a solid scraping at an air/water interface was investigated. The self-motion of a camphoric acid scraping changed characteristically depending on the pH of the aqueous phase. With an acidic aqueous phase, the camphoric acid scraping maintains a fairly constant velocity. At neutral pH, intermittent motion was observed. These characteristic motions are discussed in relation to the surface free energy which results when the camphoric acid layer diffuses from the scraping. The nature of the diffusion of the camphoric acid layer at the water surface could be observed by adding CaSO4 powder. These results imply the realization of chemomechanical energy transduction under isothermal conditions.

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