Authored by world-leading physicists, this introductory textbook explores the basic principles of polymers, colloids, liquid crystals, wetting, and foams. It is a practical ‘toolbox’ for readers to acquire basic knowledge in the field and facilitate further reading and advanced courses. Undergraduate students in physics, biology, and the medical sciences will learn the basics of soft matter physics, in addition to scaling approaches in the spirit of the Nobel prize laureate in physics in 1991, Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, the inventor of soft matter physics and close collaborator to author Françoise Brochard-Wyart. Features: Accessible and compact approach Contains exercises to enhance understanding All chapters are followed by a short 1-2 page "insert chapter" which serve as illustrations with concrete examples from everyday life (e.g. the Paris Metro, a zebrafish, a gecko, duck feathers etc.)

Soft materials such as liquid crystals, polymers, biomaterials, and colloidal systems touch every aspect of our lives. Not surprisingly, the rapid growth of these fields over the past few decades has resulted in an explosion of soft matter research groups worldwide. Fundamentals of Soft Matter Science introduces and explores the scientific study of soft matter and molecular self-assembly, covering the major classifications of materials, their structure and characteristics, and everyday applications. Designed for beginners to the field with a basic scientific background, this readable book emphasizes conceptual understanding, minimizing detailed mathematical derivations. Each chapter is dedicated to a different group of soft materials, including liquid crystals, surfactants, polymers, colloids, and soft biomaterials. Each subject is broken down into the essential concepts: material structures and physical characteristics, some simple theoretical ideas, and important experimental methods. The book emphasizes commonly used experimental techniques and practical applications. Full color illustrations and photographs are incorporated throughout to help describe the systems and key concepts.

This text offers an introduction to the properties and behaviour of soft matter. It begins with a treatment of the underlying principles, then discusses how the properties of certain substances and systems are treated within this framework.

Probably one of the most fashionable areas in the physical sciences today, 'Soft Condensed Matter' provides an excellent introduction to the topic, and includes colloids, polymers, liquid crystals, and amphiphiles. It is suitable for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students of physics, chemistry, materials science and chemical engineering.

This book describes the physics of the second-generation quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), a fundamental method of analysis for soft matter at interfaces. From a device for measuring film thickness in vacuum, the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) has in the past two decades evolved into a versatile instrument for analyzing soft matter at solid/liquid and solid/gas interfaces that found applications in diverse fields including the life sciences, material science, polymer research and electrochemistry. As a consequence of this success, the QCM is now being used by scientists with a wide variety of backgrounds to study an impressive diversity of samples, with intricate data analysis methods being elaborated along the way. It is for these practitioners of the QCM that the book is written. It brings across basic principles behind the technique and the data analysis methods in sufficient detail to be educational and in a format that is accessible to anyone with an undergraduate level knowledge of any of the physical or natural sciences. These principles concern the analysis of acoustic shear waves and build on a number of fundamental physical concepts which many users of the technique do not usually come across. They have counterparts in optical spectroscopy, electrical engineering, quantum mechanics, rheology and mechanics, making this book a useful educational resource beyond the QCM itself. The main focus is the physics of QCM, but as the book describes the behavior of the QCM when exposed to films, droplets, polymer brushes, particles, vesicles, nanobubbles and stick-slip, it also offers insight into the behavior of soft matter at interfaces in a more general sense.

This book describes various aspects of nanoscience and nanotechnology. It begins with an introduction to nanoscience and nanotechnology and includes a historical prospective, nanotechnology working in nature, man -made nanomaterial and impact of nanotechnology illustrated with examples. It goes on to describes general synthetic approaches and strategies and also deals with the characterization of nanomaterial using modern tools and techniques to give basic understanding to those interested in learning this emerging area. It then deals with different kinds of nanomaterial such as inorganics, carbon based-, nanocomposites and self-assembled/supramolecular nano structures in terms of their varieties, synthesis, properties etc. In addition, it contains chapters devoted to unique properties with mathematical treatment wherever applicable and the novel applications dealing with information technology, pollution control (environment, water), energy, nanomedicine, healthcare, consumer goods etc.

This manual is a useful ready-reference guide to the analytical power of modern X-ray scattering in the field of soft matter. The author describes simple tools that can elucidate the mechanisms of structure evolution in the studied materials, and follows this up with a step-by-step guide to more advanced methods. Data analysis based on clear, unequivocal results is rendered simple and straightforward – with a stress on careful planning of experiments and adequate recording of all required data.

Reading Essentials, student edition provides an interactive reading experience to improve student comprehension of science content. It makes lesson content more accessible to struggling students and supports goals for differentiated instruction. Students can highlight text and take notes right in the book!

A basic textbook for radiography students, examining the fundamentals of radiologic technology programs. The book covers three of the five categories tested on the radiography Registry exam (radiologic physics, radiologic protection & biology, and image production).

This textbook presents the fundamental principles of neuroscience and its effect on behavior. Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Topics will include: principles of brain organization; structure and ultrastructure of neurons; neurophysiology and biophysics of excitable cells; synaptic transmission; neurotransmitter systems and neurochemistry; molecular biology of neurons; development and plasticity of the brain; aging and diseases of the nervous system; organization of sensory and motor systems; structure and function of cerebral cortex; modeling of neural systems. It also examines such topics as mammalian sensory, motor, regulatory, and motivational mechanisms involved in the control of behavior, and higher mental processes such as those involved in language and memory.