The transformation of amorphous calcium carbonate to calcite and classical nucleation theory

The interfaces of calcite with water, dehydrated and hydrated amorphous calcium carbonate are studied with molecular dynamics simulations. The interfacial energies demonstrate that the calcite interface is most stable when in contact with water or low concentration solutions rather than amorphous calcium carbonate. These values are used to test the interplay between supersaturation and the interfacial energy for calcite. They demonstrate that a dissolution-reprecipitation process should always be energetically preferred to a solid state transformation of amorphous calcium carbonate to calcite.