Pure Appl. Chem., 2004, Vol. 76, No. 1, pp. 215-221
http://dx.doi.org/10.1351/pac200476010215
Origin of the enhanced structural and reorientational relaxation rates in the presence of relatively weak dc electric fields
Abstract:
The origin of the dramatic increase of the reorientational and structural relaxation rates of single water molecules in clusters of size N = 16, 32, and 64 at T = 200 K, under the influence of an external, relatively weak electric field (~0.5 107 V/cm) is examined through molecular dynamics simulations. The observed effect is attributed not to any profound structural changes, but to the increase of the size of the molecular cage. The response of water to an electric field in this range shows many similarities with the dynamics of water under low pressure. By referring to simulations and experiments from the literature, we show that in both cases the observed effects are dictated by a common mechanism.