Just as children follow a rule to line up single file after recess, some materials use an underlying rule to assemble on surfaces one row at a time, according to the study done at PNNL, the University of Washington, UCLA, and elsewhere.

Nucleation – that first formation step – is pervasive in ordered structures across nature and technology, from cloud droplets to rock candy. Yet despite some predictions made in the 1870s by the American scientist J. Willard Gibbs, researchers are still debating how this basic process happens.

The new study verifies Gibbs’ theory for materials that form row by row. Led by UW graduate student Jiajun Chen, working at PNNL, the research uncovers the underlying mechanism, which fills in a fundamental knowledge gap and opens new pathways in materials science. (1)

In a 3-dimensional world, you can choose to be one-dimensional.

In a one-dimensional cosmos, you can choose to have depth and width.

Inside the void, you can become everything.

But only the potential of nothingness,

Can promise the completeness of everything.

And only the agony of completeness,

Can deliver the full potential of death.

Look the mirror and behold.

There is darkness in the light.

It is only when you see that the void is full,

That you realize cannot turn into anything else,

Than yourself…

The circle will not turn into square.

A circle on the dirt…

Dripping blood…

A man dead.