Precambrian atmospheric pCO2 levels were previously estimated using a simple thermodynamic model based on the mineral assemblage in paleosols. In addition to theoretical flaws with that model, recalculation of pCO2 levels using more recent thermodynamic data gives significantly lower values. A new model based on the mass balance of weathering in paleosols gives consistent results from three sep...

Electronic, structural and thermodynamic properties of the equiatomic alloy TiZr are calculated within the electron density functional theory and the Debye-Grüneisen model. The calculated values of the lattice parameters a and c/a agree well with the experimental data for the α, ω and β phases. The ω phase is shown to be stable at atmospheric pressure and low temperatures; it remains energetica...

A dynamic sea ice model based on granular material rheology is presented. The sea ice model is coupled to both a mixed layer ocean model and a one-layer thermodynamic atmospheric model, which allows for an ice albedo feedback. Land is represented by a 6-m thick layer with a constant base temperature. A 10-year integration including both thermodynamic and dynamic effects and incorporating prescr...

We investigate the effect of adding nonpolar solutes at atmospheric pressure on water's temperature of maximum density, isothermal compressibility, and isobaric heat capacity, using a statistical mechanical model of water solutions [H. S. Ashbaugh, T. M. Truskett, and P. G. Debenedetti, J. Chem. Phys. 116, 2907 (2002)]. We find that the temperature of maximum density increases with solute hydro...

The second law of thermodynamics states that processes yielding work or at least capable of yielding work are thermodynamically spontaneous, and that those costing work are thermodynamically nonspontaneous. Whether a process yields or costs heat is irrelevant. Condensation of water vapor yields work and hence is thermodynamically spontaneous only in a supersaturated atmosphere; in an unsaturate...