Liquid Crystals

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We were all taught that there were four states of matter: Solids, Liquids, Gases, and Plasma, but some states of matter cannot be defined by one the these four. One of which are liquid crystals. These crystals have properties of both liquids and solids. They physically flow like liquids, but also share characteristics of crystalline solids. There is also more then one type of liquid crystals along with their different phases. Since they have so many properties, its no wonder how much we use them today. They can be found in the majority of today’s electronics and technologies.

The first discovery of liquid crystals is thought to be around 150 years ago, but was not clearly specified until around 50 years ago. The first discovery was made around the 1850’s by Virchow, Mettenheimer and Valentin. They were studying a certain type of nerve fibers and one day realized when they were left in water, they formed a fluid substance, when viewed using polarized light, would exhibit a strange behavior . They didn‘t notice that this behavior was a new phase between a liquid and a solid, but they are credited with the first observation of liquid crystals. A while Later, in 1877, Otto Lehmann used a polarizing microscope with a heated stage to investigate the phase transitions of different substances. He discovered that one of the substances he was testing would change from a clear liquid to a cloudy liquid before crystallizing. He did not think of this as a new phase, but thought that it was an imperfect transition from the different phases from liquid to crystal, or a non-definite phase. A year later in 1888, Reinitzer conducted similar experiments to those above and was the first to state that this cloudy fluid was a new phase of matter....

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...aces. Other biological uses include cell membranes DNA, and proteins. The liquid crystal phase has a big role in our live and contributes to living things. It also contributes to everyday technologies. This is one important phase of matter that we will continue to use every day and continue to use to benefit our civiliztion to improve for the better.

Works Cited http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_crystal http://www.lci.kent.edu/lc.html#Description

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/lcd.htm

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/liquid_crystal.aspx

http://www.eng.ox.ac.uk/lc/introduction/intro_1.html

http://www.personal.soton.ac.uk/tim/lc.html

http://plc.cwru.edu/tutorial/enhanced/files/LC/intro.htm

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:FXC5vOAN7woJ:invsee.asu.edu/nmodules/liquidmod/good.html+uses+for+liquid+crystals&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

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