'Rule of Four' Molecular Structure Stumps Scientists

'Rule of Four' Molecular Structure Stumps Scientists

'Rule of Four' , Molecular Structure , Stumps Scientists.

'Newsweek' reports that scientists are baffled by a bizarre "Rule of Four" that has been identified in the basic molecular structure of most inorganic materials.

The pattern can be observed in the "unit cell" of the materials, which is the smallest possible repeating section of each molecular structure.

Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) were surprised to find most of over 80,000 known and predicted materials displayed the pattern.

.

60% of those materials had a unit cell with a total number of atoms being a multiple of four.

The team ruled out the possiblity of a computing bug, chemistry and the energy requirements of atoms to form bonds.

.

The materials that are most abundant in nature should be the most energetically favored, which means the most stable ones, those with negative formation energy.

, lena Gazzarrini, Former EPFL researcher currently at CERN in Geneva, via 'Newsweek'.

But what we saw with classic computational methods was that there was no correlation between the Rule of Four and negative formation energies, lena Gazzarrini, Former EPFL researcher currently at CERN in Geneva, via 'Newsweek'.

But what we saw with classic computational methods was that there was no correlation between the Rule of Four and negative formation energies, lena Gazzarrini, Former EPFL researcher currently at CERN in Geneva, via 'Newsweek'.

Despite being unable to determine why the pattern was appearing, a form of artificial intelligence was able to predict the pattern in materials with an 87% success rate.

Despite being unable to determine why the pattern was appearing, a form of artificial intelligence was able to predict the pattern in materials with an 87% success rate.

This is interesting because the algorithm uses only local rather than global symmetry descriptors, lena Gazzarrini, Former EPFL researcher currently at CERN in Geneva, via 'Newsweek'.

According to Elena Gazzarrini, a former EPFL researcher currently at CERN in Geneva, this , "suggests that there may be small chemical groups in the cells (still to be found) that may explain the Rule of Four.".

The team's findings were published in the journal 'NPJ Computational Materials.'