Soft Matter: Materials Between Solids and Liquids

Category: Science & Technology / Physics

  • Soft matter refers to materials that can undergo relatively large changes in shape under comparatively small forces.
  • Examples include polymers, gels, colloids, foams, emulsions, liquid crystals and biological materials.
  • Their properties arise from interactions occurring at the mesoscopic scale.
  • Soft matter is important in materials science, nanotechnology, medicine and biological systems.
  • Unlike ideal rigid solids, soft materials can show complex responses to stress, temperature and external fields.
  • UPSC Focus: polymers, colloids, gels, liquid crystals, materials science.