Sunday, November 1, 2009

Liquids versus Gels

The standard thermodynamic definition of a liquid is a material that takes the shape but not the volume of its container. A gel is a material that exhibits no flow when in steady-state. Gelatin is a common gel.

1 comment:

  1. Flory tried to address the subject in the Faraday Discussions (#57) back in 1974. Despite being thorough and pendantic, I think he go nowhere. Clearly, two or more phases must be present in order to portray the desired rheology, but after that, anythings goes.

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