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Course Description

What's the difference between cream, whipped cream, and ice cream? Or between a raw, fried, or hard-boiled egg?  Somehow, the same stuff can take on very different forms with very different properties.  These are examples of soft matter,  materials that exist between rigid solids and flowing liquids, and in this course we will investigate how the science of soft matter can explain the dramatic changes in properties of these familiar materials.  Soft matter plays a big part of our everyday life, from toothpaste and shampoo to glues and the amazingly absorbent material in disposable diapers. However, these materials behave in a fundamentally different way than traditional, relatively well understood solids and liquids.  We will introduce the modern science of materials, starting with a study of the microscopic structure of simple solids and liquids.  We will investigate how the behavior of atoms and molecules can explain the properties that we can feel and measure.  We will then look at a variety of materials that have properties of both liquids and solids  and investigate how the those properties can be related to what is happening to their atoms and molecules  Using hands-on demonstrations, we will show how material properties can be changed in interesting ways (like freezing a rubber ball or cooking an egg).  Students will design and perform experiments to measure some of the unusual properties of soft matter.  

Applies Towards the Following Certificates

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