MOLECULAR DYNAMICS SIMULATIONS OF FILLED AND EMPTY CAGE-LIKE WATER CLUSTERS IN LIQUID WATER AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE TO GAS HYDRATE FORMATION MECHANISMS

摘要

Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to observe the evolutions of 512 and 51262 cage-like water clusters filled with or without a methane molecule immersed in bulk liquid water at 250 K and 230 K. The lifetimes of these clusters are calculated according to their Lindemann index δ (t) using the criteria of δ≥0.07. For both the filled and empty clusters, we find the dynamics of bulk water determines the lifetimes of cage-like water clusters, and that the lifetime of 512 62 cage-like cluster is the same as that of 512 cage-like cluster. Although the methane molecule indeed makes the filled cage-like cluster more stable than the empty one, the empty cage-like cluster still has chance to be long-lived compared with the filled clusters. These observations support the labile cluster hypothesis on the formation mechanisms of gas hydrates.