Settlement refers to the depositing of particles onto surfaces; for instance, when melting snow deposits directly onto windows as frost patterns.
In-canopy deposition plays a key role in both nutrient cycling [Clarke, 2002] and landscape evolution [Bouma, 2007]. This research investigates which flow conditions promote in-canopy deposition within and around an emergent patch of vegetation.
Physical
Physical chemistry defines deposition as the process by which gas changes directly to solid without going through an intermediate liquid state, such as frost forming on surfaces or cirrus clouds forming high up in the atmosphere. Industrial coatings use this form of deposition by withdrawing thermal energy from gas to cause it to solidify into something solid; physical vapor deposition (PVD) relies on doing just this to produce thin films with multiple surface morphologies while chemical vapor deposition (CVD) uses both PVD and chemical reaction for producing thin films with various surface morphologies.
Chemical
Modern applications often demand precise control of composition, particle size and shape, surface morphology and additives in thin film materials. Physical deposition techniques like molecular beam epitaxy and physical vapor deposition (PVD), while they may meet some objectives for ultrathin films, cannot fulfill them fully. Chemical deposition techniques that rely on reactions between volatile molecules and substrates are effective ways to do this, and provide access to essential metals like aluminum which cannot be deposited from aqueous electrolytes. There are two broad classes of these deposition methods – chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and atomic layer deposition (ALD), each using either gaseous or liquid phases as mass transfer media respectively.
Biological
Deposition is responsible for creating many natural wonders like stalactites and stalagmites in caves, formed from minerals deposited from water droplets over time. Deposition also shapes landscapes, preserves artifacts, and even allows us to use advanced electronic devices thanks to thin film deposition on silicon wafers.
Deposition, which involves attaching microscopic particles to surfaces, occurs naturally when, for instance, sand grains deposit on beaches or marine planktonic coccolith skeletons undergo chemical transformation into chalk.
For biological studies, it is of critical importance that researchers carefully collect and preserve “voucher” specimens of each taxon they study – this provides a reliable means to prove it was indeed the one being studied. Voucher specimens should then be deposited into established, permanent, public research collections so they will always be accessible for taxonomic, faunistic and experimental analyses in future years.
Economic
Economic deposition occurs when air temperatures decrease and substances move directly from their gaseous state into solid form without intermediate stages such as liquid. Frost and snow fall as examples, depositing onto surfaces when their freezing point falls below that of water in humid air that contains water vapour. Teachers can demonstrate economic deposition using photographs or real life examples, while students can experiment using various materials at various temperatures in order to observe what effect state changes have on material behaviour.