Chemical physics of water

Abstract

There is hardly any aspect of our lives that is not profoundly influenced by water. From climate to commerce and agriculture to health, water shapes our physical environment, regulates the major energy exchanges that determine climate on Earth, and is the matrix that supports the physical and chemical processes of life as we know it (1). The chemistry and physics of water, which underlie all of its uses, its necessity for life, its effects on other molecules and on the environment, are very active areas of research at the present time. So, why is this? Surprisingly, there are major gaps in knowledge and understanding that persist despite this substance’s ubiquity and central importance. This Special Feature on the Chemical Physics of Water contains 10 articles and aims to be a representative cross-section of current frontier research in this field. Articles include both Perspectives and original research contributions. The pioneering paper by Bernal and Fowler dealing with the chemical physics of water appeared in 1933 (2). It focused on understanding the anomalous properties of water and its ionic solutions from a molecular perspective, inspired by the newly minted quantum mechanical theory of electronic structure. Since that time, theory and computer simulation have become established as essential complements to laboratory experiments in unraveling the crucial role of water in an array … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: pdebene{at}princeton.edu or mike.klein{at}temple.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1