What do colloids, fractals, liquid crystals, and polymers have in common? Nothing at first sight. Yet the distance scales, the energy transfers, the way these objects react to an external field are very similar. For the first time, this book offers an introduction to the physics of these soft materials in one single volume. A variety of experiments and concepts are presented, including the phenomena of capillarity and wetting, fractals, small volumes and large surfaces, colloids, surfactants, giant micelles and fluid membranes, polymers, and liquid crystals. Each chapter is written by experts in the field with the aim of making the book accessible to the widest possible scientific audience: graduate students, lecturers, and research scientists in physics, chemistry, and other disciplines. Nobel Prize winner Pierre-Gilles de Gennes inspired this book and has written a foreword. In a liquid crystal watch, the molecules contained within a thin film of the screen are reorientated each second by extremely weak electrical signals. Here is a fine example of soft matter: molecular systems giving a strong response to a very weak command signal. They can be found almost everywhere. Soft magnetic materials used in transformers exhibit a strong magnetic moment under the action of a weak magnetic field. Take a completely different domain: gelatin, formed from col lagen fibres dissolved in hot water. When we cool below 37°C, gelation occurs, the chains joining up at various points to form a loose and highly deformable network. This is a natural example of soft matter. Going further, rather than consider a whole network, we could take a single chain of flexible polymer, such as polyoxyethylene [POE = (CH CH O)N, 2 2 5 where N rv 10 ], for example, in water. Such a chain is fragile and may break under flow. Even though hydrodynamic forces are very weak on the molecular scale, their cumulated effect may be significant. Think of a rope pulled from both ends by two groups of children. Even if each girl and boy cannot pull very hard, the rope can be broken when there are enough children pulling. Front Matter....Pages I-XVI Droplets: Capillarity and Wetting....Pages 1-46 Fractals....Pages 47-86 Small Volumes and Large Surfaces: The World of Colloids....Pages 87-132 The Physicochemistry of Surfactants....Pages 133-154 From Giant Micelles to Fluid Membranes: Polymorphism in Dilute Solutions of Surfactant Molecules....Pages 155-186 Polymers Formed from Self-Assembled Structures....Pages 187-218 Polymer Materials....Pages 219-260 Polymer Solutions: A Geometric Introduction....Pages 261-288 Liquid Crystals: Between Order and Disorder....Pages 289-315 Back Matter....Pages 317-320 1. Droplets: Capillarity and Wetting 2. Fractals 3. Small Volumes and Large Surfaces: The World of Colloids 4. The Physicochemistry of Surfactants 5. From Giant Micelles to Fluid Membranes: Polymorphism in Dilute Solutions of Surfactant Molecules 6. Polymers Formed from Self-Assembled Structures 7. Polymer Materials 8. Polymer Solutions: A Geometric Introduction 9. Liquid Crystals: Between Order and Disorder. Die dritte Auflage der Elektroakustik wurde in Symbolik und Nomenklatur an moderne Schreibweisen angepasst und enthalt neue Abschnitte zu DIN-Normen und VDI-Richtlinien.
