0 ns
The cluster starts in an ordered, crystal-like arrangement.
Project 002
When a Crystal Meets Water
I wanted to show a familiar chemical process at molecular scale: an ordered salt cluster beginning to erode as water surrounds individual ions.
What to watch
The ordered salt cluster does not disappear at once. The surface becomes rougher as individual ions leave the connected lattice and move into water.
Real simulation media from a 300 K NaCl-in-water run.
The molecular story
0.5 ns
The surface has become less regular as water interacts with exposed ions.
1 ns
More ions sit outside the largest connected cluster.
What the simulation shows
In this 1 ns, 300 K simulation, the nanoscale salt cluster does not vanish instantly. It erodes from the surface. By the final frame, 57 ions are outside the largest connected cluster.
How I made it
I placed a small NaCl cluster in TIP4P/2005 water and ran an unrestrained 300 K simulation. The page focuses on the visual sequence: surface ions leave the connected cluster and become hydrated.
Model note
This is a nanoscale dissolution visualization, not a measurement of real dissolution rate or salt solubility. The useful idea is the molecular picture: ordered ions at the surface detach and water stabilizes them.