The distribution of rings of hydrogen-bonded molecules in a model of liquid water

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Abstract
We report the results of calculations, at five temperatures ranging from 243 to 313 K, of the distributions of non-short-circuited rings of hydrogen-bonded molecules in TIPS-2 water. These data are used to test two hypotheses concerning the use of ring transformations as collective excitations in water. The suggestion by Speedy that it is the concentration of five-membered rings that determines the anomalous properties of water, and the suggestion by Rice, Belch, and Sceats that it is the ‘‘reactions’’ 2(6 ring)⇄(5 ring)+(7 ring) and 8(6 ring)⇄2(4 ring)+4(8 ring) that determines these properties, are both shown to be incomplete. Further verification of the random network model assumption of separation of time scales for network relaxation and local molecular motion is presented.