Hydrophobic hydration in stretched water

Background :

When a noble gas is inserted into a stretched water (reduced density) configuration, it has nearly the same effect as when inserted into water at normal density. However, in stretched water, the ``holes'' in water are larger and the stabilizing effect of the noble gas is greater than at normal density.

Start with the NVT ensemble, fix the temperature at 298 K and the density at . Insert a noble gas and now slowly decrease the density in increments of .

Questions :

• What influence does the size of the inserted noble gas have on the stretched water hydrogen bond network? Compare this with the observations of hydration of an ion in stretched water.

• Try to predict the ``ideal'' particle to insert for given conditions.