From new research to New Mexico.

This article appeared in the Spring 2007 edition of The Royal Institution’s Science In the Making.

The Ri is delighted to announce that one of its research students has won a major award. Sophie Renner, a sixth form student at James Allen’s Girls’ School, spent six weeks working in the Davy Faraday Research Laboratory (DFRL) last summer as part of a Nuffield Bursary student placement. Under the supervision of Gareth Tribello, a PhD student in the DFRL, she looked at the molecular structure of ice. The water molecule is unusual for its size because it is a liquid at room temperature and it expands on freezing. These strange properties arise because water molecules can form hydrogen bonds with each other. Hydrogen bonds are a major area of interest in modern chemistry because they hold the strands of the DNA double helix together, control the folding of the proteins and affect how molecules form crystals. Insight gained from observations of simple systems like ice can hopefully be applied to these more complex areas. Hydrogen bonds are difficult to break, but breaks are necessary for hydrogen atoms to move. As such, in order to describe hydrogen transport one must have a model that includes imperfect, defective hydrogen bonds. Understanding the structure and concentration of these defects is critical for understanding water conductivity and changes in ice’s structure. Sophie managed to show that certain techniques that scientists use for computer modelling of these systems were flawed. She also showed that the energy of a defect depends on subtle differences in the structure surrounding the defect. Sophie has won a sponsored trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, in May to represent Exscitec and Imperial College at the Intel Science and Engineering Fair. Students from 40 countries worldwide will participate in this fair and it will no doubt be a fantastic experience for Sophie.