Introduction and overview
1 (4)
What is soft condensed matter?
1 (1)
Soft matter---an overview
2 (3)
Forces, energies, and timescales in condensed matter
5 (20)
Introduction
5 (1)
Gases, liquids, and solids
5 (5)
Intermolecular forces
5 (3)
Condensation and freezing
8 (2)
Viscous, elastic, and viscoelastic behaviour
10 (6)
The response of matter to a shear stress
10 (3)
Understanding the mechanical response of matter at a molecular level
13 (3)
Liquids and glasses
16 (9)
Practical glass-forming systems
16 (1)
Relaxation time and viscosity in glass-forming liquids
17 (1)
The experimental glass transition
18 (3)
Understanding the glass transition
21 (4)
Phase transitions
25 (24)
Phase transitions in soft matter
25 (1)
Liquid-liquid unmixing---equilibrium phase diagrams
26 (6)
Interfaces between phases and interfacial tension
31 (1)
Liquid-liquid unmixing---kinetics of phase separation
32 (9)
Two mechanisms of phase separation
32 (1)
Spinodal decomposition
33 (4)
Nucleation
37 (1)
Growth in the late stages of phase separation
38 (3)
The liquid-solid transition---freezing and melting
41 (8)
Kinetics of the liquid-solid transition---homogeneous nucleation
42 (2)
Kinetics of the liquid-solid transition---heterogeneous nucleation
44 (1)
Solidification---stability of a growing solidification front
45 (4)
Colloidal dispersions
49 (24)
Introduction
49 (1)
A single colloidal particle in a liquid---Stokes' law and Brownian motion
50 (2)
Stokes' law
50 (1)
Brownian motion and the Einstein equation
50 (2)
Forces between colloidal particles
52 (10)
Interatomic forces and interparticle forces
52 (1)
Van der Waals forces
53 (5)
Electrostatic double-layer forces
58 (2)
Stabilising polymers with grafted polymer layers
60 (1)
Depletion interactions
61 (1)
Stability and phase behaviour of colloids
62 (6)
Crystallisation of hard-sphere colloids
62 (3)
Colloids with longer ranged repulsion
65 (1)
Colloids with weakly attractive interactions
66 (1)
Colloids with strongly attractive interactions
67 (1)
Flow in concentrated dispersions
68 (5)
Polymers
73 (22)
Introduction
73 (1)
The variety of polymeric materials
73 (4)
Polymer chemistry
74 (1)
Stereochemistry
75 (1)
Architecture
76 (1)
Copolymers
76 (1)
Physical state
77 (1)
Random walks and the dimensions of polymer chains
77 (8)
The freely jointed chain and its Gaussian limit
78 (1)
Real polymer chains---short-range correlations
79 (1)
Excluded volume, the theta temperature, and coil-globule transitions
80 (2)
Chain statistics in polymer melts---the Flory theorem
82 (1)
Measuring the size of polymer chains
82 (2)
Polymers at interfaces---adsorbed and grafted chains
84 (1)
Rubber elasticity
85 (1)
Viscoelasticity in polymers and the reptation model
86 (9)
Characterising the viscoelastic behaviour of polymers
86 (2)
Linear viscoelasticity and the Boltzmann superposition principle
88 (1)
The temperature dependence of viscoelastic properties: time-temperature superposition
88 (1)
Viscoelasticity: experimental results for monodisperse linear polymer melts
89 (1)
Entanglements
90 (1)
The tube model and the theory of reptation
91 (2)
Modifications to reptation theory
93 (2)
Gelation
95 (9)
Introduction
95 (1)
Classes of gel
96 (1)
Chemical gels
96 (1)
Physical gels
97 (1)
The theory of gelation
97 (7)
The percolation model
97 (1)
The classical theory of gelation---the Flory-Stockmayer model
98 (2)
Non-classical exponents in the percolation model
100 (1)
The elasticity of gels
100 (4)
Molecular order in soft condensed matter---liquid crystallinity
104 (25)
Introduction
104 (1)
Introduction to liquid crystal phases
105 (2)
The nematic/isotropic transition
107 (4)
Distortions and topological defects in liquid crystals
111 (3)
Generalised rigidity and the elastic constants of a nematic liquid crystal
111 (1)
Boundary effects
112 (1)
Disclinations, dislocations, and other topological defects
113 (1)
The electrical and magnetic properties of liquid crystals
114 (2)
The Frederiks transition and liquid crystal displays
116 (2)
Polymer liquid crystals
118 (11)
Rigid polymers
118 (1)
Helix coil transitions
118 (4)
The isotropic/nematic transition for ideal hard rods
122 (4)
Transitions in real lyotropic systems
126 (1)
Thermotropic liquid crystal phases
126 (3)
Molecular order in soft condensed matter---crystallinity in polymers
129 (7)
Introduction
129 (1)
Hierarchies of structure
129 (2)
Chain-folded crystals
131 (5)
Supramolecular self-assembly in soft condensed matter
136 (23)
Introduction
136 (1)
Self-assembled phases in solutions of amphiphilic molecules
136 (15)
Why oil and water do not mix
136 (1)
Aggregation and phase separation
137 (2)
The aggregation of amphiphilic molecules
139 (3)
Spherical micelles and the CMC
142 (1)
Cylindrical micelles
142 (2)
Bilayers and vesicles
144 (1)
The elasticity and fluctuations of membranes
145 (2)
The phase behaviour of concentrated amphiphile solutions
147 (3)
Complex phases in surfactant solutions and microemulsions
150 (1)
Self-assembly in polymers
151 (8)
Phase separation in polymer mixtures and the polymer/polymer interface
152 (3)
Microphase separation in copolymers
155 (1)
Block copolymer phase diagrams
156 (3)
Soft matter in nature
159 (19)
Introduction
159 (1)
The components and structures of life
160 (1)
Nucleic acids
161 (4)
Proteins
165 (8)
Primary, secondary, and tertiary structure of proteins
165 (2)
Protein folding
167 (3)
Interactions between proteins: misfolding, aggregation, and crystallisation
170 (2)
Protein misfolding, gelation, and amyloidogenesis
172 (1)
Polysaccharides
173 (1)
Membranes
174 (4)
A Some results from statistical mechanics 178 (4)
Entropy and the second law of thermodynamics
178 (1)
Energy, entropy, and temperature
179 (1)
Free energy and the Gibbs function
180 (1)
The chemical potential
181 (1)
B The distribution function of an ideal random walk 182 (3)
Direct enumeration of the statistical weight
182 (1)
Random walks and the diffusion equation
183 (2)
C Answers to selected problems 185 (1)
C Answers to selected problems 185 (4)
Chapter 2
185 (1)
Chapter 3
185 (1)
Chapter 4
186 (1)
Chapter 5
186 (1)
Chapter 6
187 (1)
Chapter 7
187 (1)
Chapter 8
187 (1)
Chapter 9
187 (1)
Chapter 10
188 (1)
Bibliography 189 (4)
Index 193

Many materials are neither simple liquids nor crystalline solids of the type studied in other branches of solid state physics, and instead are conveniently classified as 'soft condensed matter'. Examples include glues, paints, soaps, polymer melts and most materials of biological origin. This book offers a coherent and clear introduction to the properties and behaviour of soft matter. It begins with a treatment of the general underlying principles: the relation of the structure and dynamics of solids and liquids to intermolecular forces, the thermodynamics and kinetics of phase transitions, and the principles of self-assembly. Then the specific properties of colloids, polymers, liquid crystals and self-assembling amphiphilic systems are treated within this framework. A concluding chapter illustrates how principles of soft matter physics can be used to understand properties of biological systems