The unique structure of materials like shaving cream and gelatin will be explored during the July 5 lecture "Squishy Physics: How Foam Flows, Jello Gels and Sand Slips" at the University of ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ at Boulder.
David Weitz, a physics professor at Harvard University and participating faculty member in a summer physics institute at ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥-Boulder, will present the lecture at 7:30 p.m. in Duane Physics room G1B20 on the ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥-Boulder campus.
The lecture will explore the phenomena that explains why some materials don't act like they are supposed to, for example, a solid taking on the characteristics of a liquid.
One example Weitz will explore is why shaving cream, which is made up of water, air and a bit of detergent, none of which is a solid, does not flow like a liquid and behaves in many ways like a solid. He will explore how the unique structure of materials like gelatin, shaving cream and sand leads to such contrasting behavior.
The lecture is part of the second annual Boulder Summer School for Condensed Matter and Material Physics, hosted by ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥-Boulder. This year's school is devoted to nonequilibrium statistical physics and will cover a broad range of familiar phenomena that are still poorly understood like friction, turbulent liquid flow, window and other glasses and even biological systems, according to Leo Radzihovsky, a ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥-Boulder physics professor and co-founder of the school.
In 2000 the National Science Foundation provided a $780,000 grant to fund the school for five years. The National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder contributed $50,000 and ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥-Boulder provided $80,000. Lucent Technologies and IBM also provide funding.
The school's goal is to enable students to work at the frontiers of science and technology by exposing them to a range of concepts, techniques and applications much broader than any single graduate program or postdoctoral apprenticeship can provide, Radzihovsky said.
Physics professors Steven Girvin at Indiana University, Andrew Millis at Rutgers University and Matthew Fisher at the University of California at Santa Barbara co-founded the school with Radzihovsky.
Professor Nigel Goldenfeld of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, will present a second public lecture titled "My Manhattan Project: A Physicist's Adventure on Wall Street." The public lecture will be held Monday, July 23, at 7:30 p.m. in Duane Physics, room G1B20.
For more information about the July 5 lecture call (303) 492-6952.