A reappraisal of what we have learnt during three decades of computer simulations on water

Due to its ubiquity in our environment (near or far remote) water is the most investigated liquid of the literature. Since the advent of molecular simulations in the sixties the key point of the theoretical studies on water is the description of its force field. During the last three decades a cohort of model potentials have been published and tested by computer simulations. Our purpose is to appraise what have been accomplished during all these years and what deserves to be improved. In addition we attempt to give some guidance for future investigations. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.