ON THE MECHANISM OF ICE MELTING

Abstract

Based on the theory of the Jahn-Teller effect (JTE), a model of a possible mechanism of ice melting is proposed. The increase in the heat capacity of ice near 0 ⁰C by 1.5 times, compared with the Dulong and Petit law, suggests that the initial excitation of rotational vibrational modes of water molecules occurs in it. First, the excitation of the rotational low-frequency mode occurs, then the excitation of the intermediate mode. The effect of mode coupling and instability of rotational modes of molecule vibrations at an intermediate rotational frequency is associated with the presence of a connection between all low-frequency and high-frequency rotational modes of the molecule through the Euler equations. Therefore, excitation of the intermediate frequency in ice leads to the possibility of excitation of all rotational vibrational modes, which occurs in it at a temperature of 0 ⁰C after it receives the heat of fusion. Excitation of rotational vibrational modes leads to the emergence of possibilities for the addition of vibrational modes and their synchronization. The increase in the amplitude of rotational oscillations, the convergence of the frequencies of their oscillation modes and their subsequent synchronization leads to the appearance of rotations of hydrogen atoms of a water molecule around their axes of intermolecular bonds, to a stable bending of hydrogen bonds and their subsequent weakening in water. As a result of this weakening of the bond forces, we have a decrease in the rotational frequencies of oscillations for water molecules and their local charges. As a result of this decrease in frequencies, oscillations of local charges of water molecules become less radiating and less damped. Therefore, in the liquid phase of water, these rotational oscillation modes become new undamped independent oscillation modes of its molecules. The appearance of new oscillation modes in molecules leads to a doubling of the heat capacity of water compared to ice. Excitation of all three of its rotational oscillation modes during melting of ice leads to the appearance of an anomalously large value of the heat of fusion.