ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Investigation of the Impact of Nitrogen on Methane, Ethane and Propane as Relevant to Titan

Abstract: Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is the only other known planetary body besides Earth with stable liquids on its surface. These liquids are predominantly composed of methane, ethane and dissolved nitrogen, with propane likely also present. The main question that this proposal aims to answer is how the presence of nitrogen impacts the structures of each of these alkanes, and how this may inform the resulting phase equilibria. This will allow us to better understand the behaviour of these lakes/seas and its implications for wider chemistry on Titan. To do this, we will use the wide Q range of SANDALS and H/D isotopic substitution to characterise the bulk structure of each alkane and alkane-nitrogen mixture (at 95 K and 1.5 bar), along with every intermolecular correlation.

Principal Investigator: Dr Zachary Amato
Local Contact: Dr Oliver Alderman
Experimenter: Professor Gerrick Lindberg
Experimenter: Miss Kerri McKeever
Experimenter: Dr Cecilia Thieberger
Experimenter: Dr Anna Engle
Experimenter: Dr James Hallett
Experimenter: Ms Marlena Brand
Experimenter: Dr Jennifer Hanley
Experimenter: Mr Abdul Basith

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2520303

ISIS Experiment Number: RB2520303

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Dr Zachary Amato et al; (2026): Investigation of the Impact of Nitrogen on Methane, Ethane and Propane as Relevant to Titan, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2520303

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.