| Abstract Scope |
Mineral-grain collisions underlie the accretion of inner-solar system planets, while ice-grain collisions is ubiquitous in the outer solar system. Significant modeling efforts have been undertaken to understand collision dynamics of both mineral and ice grains at the pebble (i.e. cm) and larger spatial scales, but not much information is available at the smaller spatial scales (i.e nm-μm). Towards this end, we use classical molecular dynamics simulations to study the collisions of nanometric (i) silicate grains, (ii) ice grains, and (iii) ice-covered silicate grains. In particular, we examine the extent of grain-coalescence vs grain fragmentation, as well as the extent of volatilization of adsorbed ice (on silicate grains) as a function of relative grain velocity, grain size, and ambient temperature. In addition, a Johnson-Kendall-Roberts model based analysis of the coefficient of restitution and the bouncing velocity is provided in conjunction with atomic-scale characterization of the underlying collision dynamics. |