'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.'