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Ohara Lab
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The lab uncovers how liquids transport heat by tracing the motion of their molecules.
AboutAbout the lab
Why does this liquid have this thermal conductivity?
The Ohara Lab studies liquids, soft matter, and their interfaces, investigating the molecular motion that determines their properties.
Macroscopic properties such as viscosity, thermal conductivity, and interfacial tension are determined by molecular motion at much finer scales.
Analyzing this motion shows how a medium should be designed to obtain a targeted property.
Unlike solids, where phonon theory gives a clear picture, liquids lack such a well-developed theory, so molecular dynamics simulation, which follows molecular motion computationally, is a powerful tool.
Key terms
- Molecular dynamics (MD) method
- A method of tracking the motion of each individual molecule on a computer to study the behavior of a material
- Thermal conductivity
- A value that expresses how easily heat is conducted through a material
- Soft matter
- A collective term for soft, easily deformable materials such as polymers, gels, and liquid crystals
ResearchResearch themes
The primary goal is to elucidate how molecular motion leads to the transport of heat, momentum, and mass in liquids, for which no clear theory exists as it does for gases and solids. The lab has focused on this field since the early days of molecular thermo-fluid engineering and continues to strive to lead the way in nanoscale thermo-fluid engineering.
*Illustrative imageMechanisms Governing Heat Transport in Liquids
Heat travels through a liquid because the mechanical energy of molecules is passed from molecule to molecule by intermolecular forces. The lab established an analysis method that classifies this intermolecular energy transfer and showed that in water, energy transfer through rotational motion is more dominant than that through translational motion.
*Illustrative imageHeat Traveling Within Molecules
In polymer molecules such as linear alkanes, heat energy that moves within a molecule through deformation vibrations of the molecule also contributes to the macroscopic heat flux. The longer the chain, the larger the share of intramolecular transfer, and the lab found that it accounts for a majority at a molecular weight of a few hundred.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Ohara Lab are faculty, students in the doctoral, master's, and undergraduate programs, and administrative secretaries.As of 2026
- ProfessorTaku Ohara
VoicesStudent voices
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Unit Cell of Liquid Water” Cnrowley / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Mechanisms Governing Heat Transport in Liquids: “Water-3D-balls-A” Ben Mills / Public domain (cropped)
- Heat Traveling Within Molecules: “Heptadecane 3D ball” Jynto (talk) / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (SURBLYS 研究室): “Simulated structure of the water hexane interface” Cnrowley / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (菊川 研究室): “Visual Molecular Dynamics visualization” Toughpkh / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (高奈・金子 研究室): “Plasma Trees” Themarnicle / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (永井・伊神 研究室): “Mars 2020 spacecraft thermal vacuum test PIA23263- D G2775 (cropped)” NASA / Public domain (cropped)
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