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melting temperature
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Melting of a C60 molecule
Molecular dynamics simulation of the melting process of a
C60 molecule
The visualization depicts the temperature of the thermostat
on the left of the molecule. The color scale on the right
refers to the binding energy of individual atoms. The simulation shows
that disruption/reconnection of C-C bonds starts above 3,000 K.
Close to 4,000 K, the fullerene structure converts to a very different
"pretzel" structure consisting of connected rings.
This temperature may be called the melting temperature. At still higher
temperatures, parts of the fullerene fragment off as chains.
Unlike in bulk systems, "melting" is a gradual process
in finite structures such as molecules.
The underlying Physics is described in
Seong Gon Kim and David Tománek,
Melting the fullerenes: A molecular dynamics study,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 72, 2418 (1994).
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