https://phys.org/physics-news/soft-matter en-us The latest news on soft matter, soft condensed matter, liquids, colloids, polymers, foams, gels, granular materials A research team affiliated with UNIST has unveiled for the first time a new principle of motion in the microworld, where objects can move in a directed manner simply by changing their sizes periodically within a substance known as liquid crystal. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-uncover-principle-motion-liquid-crystals.html Soft Matter Wed, 06 Mar 2024 08:52:02 EST news628937521 Imagine tiny magnets powering our world, silently switching energy on and off in phones, cars, and even power grids. These unsung heroes are called soft magnetic materials. However, as devices become faster and more efficient, traditional materials struggle to handle the high frequencies needed by modern devices. Enter ASMCs, the new kids on the block. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-soft-magnetic-materials-high-frequency.html Condensed Matter Soft Matter Tue, 05 Mar 2024 16:53:03 EST news628879982 Robots and cameras of the future could be made of liquid crystals, thanks to a new discovery that significantly expands the potential of the chemicals already common in computer displays and digital watches. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-key-future-robots-liquid-crystals.html Condensed Matter Soft Matter Mon, 04 Mar 2024 11:50:38 EST news628775434 Falling from the tip of a brush suspended in mid-air, an ink droplet touches a painted surface and blossoms into a masterpiece of ever-changing beauty. It weaves a tapestry of intricate, evolving patterns. Some of them resemble branching snowflakes, thunderbolts or neurons, whispering the unique expression of the artist's vision. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-ink-physics.html Soft Matter Mon, 04 Mar 2024 10:15:12 EST news628769708 Topological wave structures are wave patterns that exhibit specific topological properties, or in other words, properties that remain unvaried under smooth deformations of a physical system. These structures, such as vortices and skyrmions, have attracted significant attention within the physics research community. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-theoretical-description-topological.html Soft Matter Quantum Physics Tue, 27 Feb 2024 06:30:01 EST news628164006 There is no doubt that water is significant. Without it, life would never have begun, let alone continue today—not to mention its role in the environment itself, with oceans covering over 70% of Earth. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-theoretical-electronic.html General Physics Soft Matter Mon, 26 Feb 2024 15:00:02 EST news628176248 California's Silicon Valley and Utah's Silicon Slopes are named for the element most associated with semiconductors, the backbone of the computer revolution. Anything computerized or electronic depends on semiconductors, a substance with properties that conduct electrical current under certain conditions. Traditional semiconductors are made from inorganic materials—like silicon—that require vast amounts of water and energy to produce. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-uncovering-physics-electrons-screen-killer.html Condensed Matter Soft Matter Thu, 15 Feb 2024 12:43:05 EST news627223381 Daniela Kraft's group has succeeded in creating a network of microparticles that is both strong and completely flexible. This may sound simple, yet they are the first in the world to succeed in doing so. The achievement represents a real breakthrough in soft matter physics. The study is published in Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-lab-tiny-network-microparticles-strong.html Soft Matter Thu, 15 Feb 2024 09:32:04 EST news627211921 Every fluid—from Earth's atmosphere to blood pumping through the human body—has viscosity, a quantifiable characteristic describing how the fluid will deform when it encounters some other matter. If the viscosity is higher, the fluid flows calmly, a state known as laminar. If the viscosity decreases, the fluid undergoes the transition from laminar to turbulent flow. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-reynolds-similitude-superfluids-quantum-viscosity.html Soft Matter Quantum Physics Tue, 30 Jan 2024 12:42:26 EST news625840944 For decades scientists have been trying to solve Feynman's Sprinkler Problem: How does a sprinkler running in reverse—in which the water flows into the device rather than out of it—work? Through a series of experiments, a team of mathematicians has figured out how flowing fluids exert forces and move structures, thereby revealing the answer to this long-standing mystery. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-reverse-sprinkler-decades-physics-puzzle.html General Physics Soft Matter Mon, 29 Jan 2024 10:27:51 EST news625746468 As an ocean wave laps up against a beach, it contains innumerable swirls and eddies. The seawater forms complex patterns at each level, from the waves that surfers catch to ripples too small and fast for the human eye to notice. Each motion sets off another set of motions, cascading through layers of water. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-supercomputers-ocean-turbulence.html General Physics Soft Matter Fri, 26 Jan 2024 11:20:32 EST news625490429 Scientists from Hiroshima University undertook a study of dragonfly wings in order to better understand the relationship between a corrugated wing structure and vortex motions. They discovered that corrugated wings exhibit larger lift than flat wings. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-dragonfly-wings-relationship-corrugated-wing.html General Physics Soft Matter Fri, 26 Jan 2024 08:37:06 EST news625480623 A soap film with chemically distinct sides represents the latest breakthrough in research led by chemist Sylvestre Bonnet. This unique soap film, along with an innovative device capable of continuously producing new soap films, forms a crucial piece in the puzzle for the development of artificial photosynthesis. The study is published in Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-fuel-special-soap-enable-artificial.html Soft Matter Thu, 25 Jan 2024 11:16:58 EST news625403816 Birds have inspired human flight for centuries, but Shabnam Raayai thinks they can also offer lessons in reducing energy consumption. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-physics-flight-formations-insights-energy.html General Physics Soft Matter Wed, 24 Jan 2024 11:12:03 EST news625317121 Microplastics are tiny plastic particles that can cause big problems when they enter the water supply. One way my fluid dynamics lab explores microplastic movement is by studying how tiny water-walking insects are pushed underwater by raindrops. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-tiny-bugs-scientists-insights-microplastics.html Soft Matter Tue, 23 Jan 2024 11:08:44 EST news625230513 Several recent experiments identify unusual patterns in particle diffusion, hinting at some underlying complexity in the process which physicists have yet to discover. Through new analysis published in The European Physical Journal B, Adrian Pacheco-Pozo and Igor Sokolov at Humboldt University of Berlin show how this behavior emerges through strong correlations between the positions of diffusing particles traveling along similar trajectories. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-role-random-particle-diffusion.html General Physics Soft Matter Fri, 19 Jan 2024 10:21:47 EST news624882105 A new study in Nature Communications investigates the electrical tuning of branched light flow in nematic liquid crystal (NLC) films, revealing controlled patterns and statistical characteristics with potential applications in optics and photonics. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-disorder-exploring-electrical-tuning-liquid.html Optics & Photonics Soft Matter Mon, 15 Jan 2024 10:10:01 EST news624534463 A trio of mechanical engineers at Seoul National University has found that the shape of a water jet dropped into a glass of water is the determining factor in the noise that results. In their paper published in the journal Physical Review Fluids, Mouad Boudina, Joonoh Kim and Ho-Young Kim describe experiments they conducted with a falling water stream colliding with still water. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-jet-impact.html Soft Matter Tue, 09 Jan 2024 11:06:50 EST news624020806 Badminton traces its roots back more than a millennium, but the modern version of the racket game originated in the late 19th century in England. Today, it is the second most popular sport in the world behind soccer, with an estimated 220 million people who enjoy playing. For the last three decades, badminton has been a competitive Olympic sport, and with "bird" speeds topping 300 mph in "smash" shots, it certainly makes for an exciting spectator sport. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-aerodynamic-nylon-shuttlecocks.html General Physics Soft Matter Tue, 09 Jan 2024 11:00:01 EST news624011843 Hold your hands out in front of you, and no matter how you rotate them, it's impossible to superimpose one over the other. Our hands are a perfect example of chirality—a geometric configuration by which an object cannot be superimposed onto its mirror image. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-stripes-liquid-crystal-route-chiral.html Soft Matter Mon, 08 Jan 2024 10:59:56 EST news623933993 Weather forecasting is important for various sectors, including agriculture, military operations, and aviation, as well as for predicting natural disasters like tornados and cyclones. It relies on predicting the movement of air in the atmosphere, which is characterized by turbulent flows resulting in chaotic eddies of air. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-theoretical-framework-mysteries-synchronization-turbulent.html General Physics Soft Matter Thu, 04 Jan 2024 12:14:03 EST news623592841 A team of physicists at The University of Edinburgh working with an infection and immunity specialist with the university's Roslin Institute has, via experimentation, validated a theory to explain why paint dries at the same rate regardless of humidity levels. The study is published in Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-dry-slower-humid-environment.html General Physics Soft Matter Wed, 20 Dec 2023 07:30:18 EST news622279813 A winter wonderland calls to mind piles of fluffy, glistening snow. But to reach the ground, snowflakes are swept into the turbulent atmosphere, swirling through the air instead of plummeting directly to the ground. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-snowflake-mysteriously-pattern.html General Physics Soft Matter Tue, 19 Dec 2023 11:00:01 EST news622199933 Each year at its annual meeting, the American Physical Society's Division of Fluid Dynamics sponsors a contest for the best images in a variety of categories, all related to the flow of fluids. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-liquid-lace-medusa-image-fluid.html Soft Matter Sat, 16 Dec 2023 09:00:01 EST news621866866 Liquid crystal is a state of matter that exhibits properties of both liquid and solid. It can flow like a liquid, while its constituent molecules are aligned as in a solid. Liquid crystal is widely used nowadays, for example, as a core element of LCD devices. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-discovery-magnetic-liquid-crystal-quadrupole.html Soft Matter Quantum Physics Wed, 13 Dec 2023 12:36:03 EST news621693361 Scientists from Bayreuth have developed a new method for studying liquid and soft matter using artificial intelligence. In a study now published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they open up a new chapter in density functional theory. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-ai-method-soft-chapter-density.html Soft Matter Wed, 13 Dec 2023 09:40:22 EST news621682799 When temperature or pressure is applied to a material, its state changes from liquid to solid or remains solid but exhibits structural changes. This change is called a phase transition or change. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-mechanism-pressure-induced-glass-phase-transition.html Soft Matter Mon, 11 Dec 2023 10:13:05 EST news621511983 How much stress do pipes undergo when a liquid flows through them, and how does it depend on the degree of curvature of the pipe? https://phys.org/news/2023-12-quantify-onset-turbulence-pipe-bent.html Soft Matter Fri, 08 Dec 2023 09:26:55 EST news621249954 The detailed physics behind droplet generation in microfluidic post-array devices has been clarified by scientists at Tokyo Tech. Through various experiments performed under different operational conditions, they gained important insights into how these small devices can be used to produce uniform emulsions, with potential applications in analytical chemistry and biology, medicine, cosmetics, and materials science. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-formation-minute-droplets-microfluidic-devices.html Soft Matter Thu, 07 Dec 2023 13:08:03 EST news621176881 If you mix cornstarch and water in the right proportions, you get something that seems not-quite-liquid but also not-quite-solid. Oobleck flows and settles like a liquid when untouched but stiffens when you try to pick it up or stir it with a spoon. The properties of oobleck and other non-Newtonian fluids—including Silly Putty, quicksand, paint, and yogurt—change under stress or pressure, and scientists have long struggled to prove exactly why. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-oobleck-like-fluids-contributes-smart-material.html General Physics Soft Matter Fri, 01 Dec 2023 12:06:37 EST news620654793