Beijing reviewcoverage of the democracy movement of Spring 1989

Density-functional theory for the interfacial properties of a dipolar fluid

“…No orientational ordering was observed in this case and no symmetry arguments explain such a result. There are nonetheless indications that quadrupole-induced interfacial ordering may arise if quadrupolequadrupole terms to second order are included (Sullivan 1989). Thus we may conclude that the simplest MF approximation does not predict any preferential alignment due to quadrupolar forces.…”

“…On the other hand, fluids of smaller quasi-spherical multipolar molecules are simple enough to be amenable to microscopic treatment, while retaining many interesting interfacial properties, as revealed by some recent computer simulation (Townsend et a1 1985, Wilson etaf 1987, Matsumoto and Kataoka 1988,1989 and experimental (Goh et a1 1988) studies. Polar fluids such as water, hydrogen chloride and methanol are of great importance in chemistry and biology, as are homonuclear diatomics such as hydrogen and nitrogen, in which quadrupolar interactions are thought to be relevant.…”