Kwong-Tin Tang | |
---|---|
Occupation(s) | Engineer, academic and researcher |
Awards | Senior Distinguished U.S. Scientist Award, Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung Fellow, American Physical Society |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Columbia University |
Thesis | Elastic and Reactive Scattering in the (H, H2) System |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Pacific Lutheran University,Tacoma |
Kwong-Tin Tang is an engineer,academic and researcher. He is an Emeritus Professor of Physics at the Pacific Lutheran University,Tacoma. [1]
Tang's research interests include interatomic interactions and atomic and molecular collisions. He has authored and coauthored over 150 papers including a monograph Asymptotic Methods in Quantum Mechanics and also a set of three volumes of Mathematical Methods for Engineers and Scientists. [2]
Tang is a Fellow of the American Physical Society [3] and has served as the chair of the Physics Department on three different occasions.
Tang completed his bachelor's degree in Engineering Physics from the University of Washington in 1958 and his M.A. in mathematics from the same university in 1959. He received his Ph.D. in physics in 1965 with his Dissertation titled "Elastic and Reactive Scattering in the (H,H2) System" from Columbia University. [4]
Tang Pacific Lutheran University in 1967 as an Assistant Professor and became an associate professor in 1969. After this appointment ended in 1972,he became a Full Professor of Physics and later gained the status of Emeritus Professor. [5]
Tang presented new combining rules for the calculation of van der Waals parameters in a study. This resulted in the determination of effective Born-Mayer repulsive potential parameters through model potential of Tang and Toennies for the possible calculations of accurate potential curves for all combinations of rare gas atoms. [6] The same model was modified to predict the potentials for ion-atom systems. New ab initio calculations were made for Na+–Ar for comparison with the new model and the results indicate excellent agreement with the model predictions. [7] In another paper,he discussed a simple theoretical model for the van der Waals potential at intermediate distances. The outcomes indicate that for the first time,the model describes the repulsive potential of energies go up to about 10 meV. There is also a brief discussion of possible physical implications of the model potential. [8] With the help of Tang-Toennies potential model,the anisotropic potentials of He–N2,Ne–N2,and Ar–N2 are predicted with findings showing that the law of corresponding states for anisotropic systems,that predict the reduced shapes of the potentials for a given geometrical configuration are identical and applies to the highly anisotropic rare gas- N2 systems. [9] His study about potentials for some rare gas and alkali-helium systems calculated using the surface integral method resulted in curves that correspond with the experimental and the ab initio theoretical data. [10]
Tang evaluated multipolar matrix elements using simple wave functions based on asymptomatic behavior and binding energies of the valence electron. When compared with the low order quantities that have been previously determined,it was shown that the approach is able to produce useful values for these quantities. [11] A variety of formulas for van der Waals coefficients were generated in a study that employed a simple two-point Padéapproximant of the dynamic polarizability and it was shown that while some values actually give accurate results,others are bounds of the actual value. [12]
In a study,Tang found that the exact quantum mechanical wavefunction for the idealized reactive atom-diatomic molecule collision model,is the same as the exact semiclassical wavefunction. At low energies,it is considered as a remarkable approximation gained through truncating the series after the first two terms,which agrees with a semiclassical wavefunction formed after two manifolds of classical trajectories. [13] The reactive scattering in the (H,H2) system make up the quantum-mechanical study,in which the results of its treatment are in accordance with the classical treatment and the differential cross-sections are clearly backward peaked at low energies and move forward as the energy increases. There is also a discussion of the implications of present calculations for a theory of chemical kinetics. [14] He also reformulated the close coupled differential equations for rotational excitation in collisions between an atom and a diatomic molecule which might be equivalent to other formulations,but much easier to compute and will provide a simpler expression for differential cross sections. [15]
Diatomic molecules are molecules composed of only two atoms,of the same or different chemical elements. If a diatomic molecule consists of two atoms of the same element,such as hydrogen or oxygen,then it is said to be homonuclear. Otherwise,if a diatomic molecule consists of two different atoms,such as carbon monoxide or nitric oxide,the molecule is said to be heteronuclear. The bond in a homonuclear diatomic molecule is non-polar.
An intermolecular force (IMF) is the force that mediates interaction between molecules,including the electromagnetic forces of attraction or repulsion which act between atoms and other types of neighbouring particles,e.g. atoms or ions. Intermolecular forces are weak relative to intramolecular forces –the forces which hold a molecule together. For example,the covalent bond,involving sharing electron pairs between atoms,is much stronger than the forces present between neighboring molecules. Both sets of forces are essential parts of force fields frequently used in molecular mechanics.
Theoretical chemistry is the branch of chemistry which develops theoretical generalizations that are part of the theoretical arsenal of modern chemistry:for example,the concepts of chemical bonding,chemical reaction,valence,the surface of potential energy,molecular orbitals,orbital interactions,and molecule activation.
The van der Waals radius,rw,of an atom is the radius of an imaginary hard sphere representing the distance of closest approach for another atom. It is named after Johannes Diderik van der Waals,winner of the 1910 Nobel Prize in Physics,as he was the first to recognise that atoms were not simply points and to demonstrate the physical consequences of their size through the van der Waals equation of state.
In molecular physics,the van der Waals force is a distance-dependent interaction between atoms or molecules. Unlike ionic or covalent bonds,these attractions do not result from a chemical electronic bond;they are comparatively weak and therefore more susceptible to disturbance. The van der Waals force quickly vanishes at longer distances between interacting molecules.
Molecular dynamics (MD) is a computer simulation method for analyzing the physical movements of atoms and molecules. The atoms and molecules are allowed to interact for a fixed period of time,giving a view of the dynamic "evolution" of the system. In the most common version,the trajectories of atoms and molecules are determined by numerically solving Newton's equations of motion for a system of interacting particles,where forces between the particles and their potential energies are often calculated using interatomic potentials or molecular mechanical force fields. The method is applied mostly in chemical physics,materials science,and biophysics.
Dilithium,Li2,is a strongly electrophilic,diatomic molecule comprising two lithium atoms covalently bonded together. Li2 is known in the gas phase. It has a bond order of 1,an internuclear separation of 267.3 pm and a bond energy of 102 kJ/mol or 1.06 eV in each bond. The electron configuration of Li2 may be written as σ2.
The atomic radius of a chemical element is the distance from the center of the nucleus to the outermost shell of an electron. Since the boundary is not a well-defined physical entity,there are various non-equivalent definitions of atomic radius. Depending on the definition,the term may apply only to isolated atoms,or also to atoms in condensed matter,covalently bound in molecules,or in ionized and excited states;and its value may be obtained through experimental measurements,or computed from theoretical models. Under some definitions,the value of the radius may depend on the atom's state and context.
A shape resonance is a metastable state in which an electron is trapped due to the shape of a potential barrier. Altunata describes a state as being a shape resonance if,"the internal state of the system remains unchanged upon disintegration of the quasi-bound level." A more general discussion of resonances and their taxonomies in molecular system can be found in the review article by Schulz,;for the discovery of the Fano resonance line-shape and for the Majorana pioneering work in this field by Antonio Bianconi;and for a mathematical review by Combes et al.
In the context of chemistry and molecular modelling,a force field is a computational method that is used to estimate the forces between atoms within molecules and also between molecules. More precisely,the force field refers to the functional form and parameter sets used to calculate the potential energy of a system of atoms or coarse-grained particles in molecular mechanics,molecular dynamics,or Monte Carlo simulations. The parameters for a chosen energy function may be derived from experiments in physics and chemistry,calculations in quantum mechanics,or both. Force fields are interatomic potentials and utilize the same concept as force fields in classical physics,with the difference that the force field parameters in chemistry describe the energy landscape,from which the acting forces on every particle are derived as a gradient of the potential energy with respect to the particle coordinates.
Giacinto Scoles is a European and North American chemist and physicist who is best known for his pioneering development of molecular beam methods for the study of weak van der Waals forces between atoms,molecules,and surfaces. He developed the cryogenic bolometer as a universal detector of atomic and molecule beams that not only can detect a small flux of molecules,but also responds to the internal energy of the molecules. This is the basis for the optothermal spectroscopy technique which Scoles and others have used to obtain very high signal-to noise and high resolution ro-vibrational spectra.
Aron Kuppermann was a professor of chemical physics at California Institute of Technology. The author of more than 200 publications,he is perhaps best known for his work in the application of quantum mechanics to the solution of problems in chemical reaction dynamics and kinetics. Kuppermann and George Schatz completed the first calculation of the dynamics of a chemical reaction in a full 3-dimensional quantum model.
Xenon monochloride (XeCl) is an exciplex which is used in excimer lasers and excimer lamps emitting near ultraviolet light at 308 nm. It is most commonly used in medicine. Xenon monochloride was first synthesized in the 1960s. Its kinetic scheme is very complex and its state changes occur on a nanosecond timescale. In the gaseous state,at least two kinds of xenon monochloride are known:XeCl and Xe
2Cl,whereas complex aggregates form in the solid state in noble gas matrices. The excited state of xenon resembles halogens and it reacts with them to form excited molecular compounds.
The helium dimer is a van der Waals molecule with formula He2 consisting of two helium atoms. This chemical is the largest diatomic molecule—a molecule consisting of two atoms bonded together. The bond that holds this dimer together is so weak that it will break if the molecule rotates,or vibrates too much. It can only exist at very low cryogenic temperatures.
Helium is the smallest and the lightest noble gas and one of the most unreactive elements,so it was commonly considered that helium compounds cannot exist at all,or at least under normal conditions. Helium's first ionization energy of 24.57 eV is the highest of any element. Helium has a complete shell of electrons,and in this form the atom does not readily accept any extra electrons nor join with anything to make covalent compounds. The electron affinity is 0.080 eV,which is very close to zero. The helium atom is small with the radius of the outer electron shell at 0.29 Å. Helium is a very hard atom with a Pearson hardness of 12.3 eV. It has the lowest polarizability of any kind of atom,however,very weak van der Waals forces exist between helium and other atoms. This force may exceed repulsive forces,so at extremely low temperatures helium may form van der Waals molecules. Helium has the lowest boiling point of any known substance.
In computational chemistry and molecular dynamics,the combination rules or combining rules are equations that provide the interaction energy between two dissimilar non-bonded atoms,usually for the part of the potential representing the van der Waals interaction. In the simulation of mixtures,the choice of combining rules can sometimes affect the outcome of the simulation.
Neon compounds are chemical compounds containing the element neon (Ne) with other molecules or elements from the periodic table. Compounds of the noble gas neon were believed not to exist,but there are now known to be molecular ions containing neon,as well as temporary excited neon-containing molecules called excimers. Several neutral neon molecules have also been predicted to be stable,but are yet to be discovered in nature. Neon has been shown to crystallize with other substances and form clathrates or Van der Waals solids.
Argon compounds,the chemical compounds that contain the element argon,are rarely encountered due to the inertness of the argon atom. However,compounds of argon have been detected in inert gas matrix isolation,cold gases,and plasmas,and molecular ions containing argon have been made and also detected in space. One solid interstitial compound of argon,Ar1C60 is stable at room temperature. Ar1C60 was discovered by the CSIRO.
The magnesium argide ion,MgAr+ is an ion composed of one ionised magnesium atom,Mg+ and an argon atom. It is important in inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and in the study of the field around the magnesium ion. The ionization potential of magnesium is lower than the first excitation state of argon,so the positive charge in MgAr+ will reside on the magnesium atom. Neutral MgAr molecules can also exist in an excited state.
Diargon or the argon dimer is a molecule containing two argon atoms. Normally,this is only very weakly bound together by van der Waals forces. However,in an excited state,or ionised state,the two atoms can be more tightly bound together,with significant spectral features. At cryogenic temperatures,argon gas can have a few percent of diargon molecules.