title: Surface tension measurements of surface freezing in liquid normal alkanes.
abstract: Surface tension measurements reveal surface freezing in liquid n-alkanes. A solid monolayer of molecules is found to exist up to 30 degrees C above the bulk freezing point. This surface phase exists only for carbon numbers 14 n </= 50. The measured carbon number and temperature dependence of the surface tension is interpreted within a simple thermodynamical model based on known bulk latent heat data and surface energy considerations. The vanishing of the surface phase for n </= 14 is a possible transition from surface freezing to surface melting behavior.
authors.forename: X Z
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Ocko
authors.forename: E B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Sirota
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Sinha
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Deutsch
authors.forename: B H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: M W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Kim