Scaling effect of condensed matter physics and molecular physics
Abstract
<p indent="0mm">In 2005, “What is the nature of the glassy state?” was suggested as one of the greatest scientific conundrums over the next quarter century in an issue of <italic>Science</italic> on its 125th anniversary. In this study, the nature of the glassy state is investigated using the scaling law, where glass transition originates from the dynamic fluctuation (or cross-scale) between molecular physics (or molecular dynamics) and condensed matter physics, causing a discontinuous and nonequilibrium transition. (1) In physics, the glass transition is a classic order-to-disorder transition; in mathematics, it is an arrangement-to-combination transition; and in thermodynamics, it is a phase-to-microphase separation transition. (2) Cooperative dynamics (or molecule entanglement) in glass transition is confirmed using the Adam-Gibbs domain model, where there are 3.718 segments (e+1, where e is the natural constant). Moreover, approximately 78 molecules cooperatively move at the glass transition temperature. Therefore, research on glass transition becomes essential for exploring the working principles of the scaling effect in glassy matter and reconciling the interdisciplinary complexity of physics (condensed matter physics) and chemistry (molecular physics).</p>
