Soft matter

Under soft matter ( english soft condensed matter or short soft matter ) is understood in the natural sciences condensed phases , which are only partly one of the states of matter " tight " or " liquid can be assigned." These include, among others

• Liquid crystals (used in LCDs )
• Plastic crystals
• Polymer melts and solutions
• Gels (z. B. jelly ) / gelatinous
• Polyelectrolytes (e.g. the absorber material in diapers )
• Colloidal suspensions ( ink , blood, etc.)
• Elastomers ( rubber )
• Surfactants

This material class contains numerous model systems for the investigation of fundamental physical phenomena, especially from the field of thermodynamics (e.g. self-organization , non-linear material properties, phase transitions , the glass transition , critical phenomena ). There are also points of contact with biophysics .

literature

• Gerhard Gompper, Jan KG Dhont, Dieter Richter: Complex materials on a mesoscopic scale: What is soft matter? In: Physics in Our Time . tape 34 , no. 1 , 2003, p. 12-18 , doi : 10.1002 / piuz.200390002 .
• Gerhard Gompper, Jan KG Dhont, Dieter Richter: A world between solid and liquid: Current research on soft matter . In: Physics in Our Time . tape 34 , no. 1 , 2003, p. 19-25 , doi : 10.1002 / piuz.200390003 .