TOMSK, May 22 – RIA Tomsk. Scientists of Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) together with colleagues from Germany and Ukraine study the structure and internal dynamics of molecules of sulfur compounds; the data obtained can be useful for space exploration, reports the press service of the university.
It is specified that the fundamental properties of molecules of sulfur compounds – their structure and internal dynamics – are studied by TPU scientists along with colleagues from Braunschweig University of Technology (Germany), Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute and Usikov Institute of Radiophysics and Electronics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The project of the team is supported by the Volkswagen Foundation.
"The obtained data on sulfur compounds can be used for environmental monitoring of the state of the Earth's atmosphere, as well as for space exploration", – is said in the report.
It is noted that sulfur – is a necessary element for the life and nutrition of plants on Earth, but today one of the main sources of sulfur on the planet are emissions from enterprises of the oil and metallurgical industries. Sulfur compounds are toxic and data about them are important for monitoring of the atmosphere. Scientists are studying the fundamental properties of sulfur molecules - how the atoms move inside them."The only way to get this information – is to investigate the spectra of molecules – the set of frequencies at which the substance absorbs or emits light. There is not a single molecule with the same spectra. And here accuracy is important – the more accurately determined the spectra, the more accurately you predict the properties of matter. Thanks to modern technologies we can get more accurate information", – the TPU professor Oleg Ulenekov is quoted in the message.
It is reported that the spectra of molecules give space researchers information on the temperature, velocity, pressure, chemical composition of planets and other cosmic objects. Within the framework of the project scientists work with various sulfur compounds, including its rare isotope sulfur-36. The team has already published a number of articles and its first discoveries. It is planned that they will supplement the world "piggy bank of knowledge" about the spectra which scientists use in various fields.