Colloidal suspensions, Brownian motion, molecular reality: a short history
- Author
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M D Haw
- Affiliations
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Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, King's Buildings, Mayfield Road Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, UK
- Journal
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Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter Create an alert RSS this journal
- Issue
- Citation
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M D Haw 2002 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 14 7769
- Tag this article Full text PDF (114 KB)
- Abstract
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In the first decade of the 20th century, nearly a hundred years of work on the phenomenon of Brownian motion culminated in theory and experiments that demonstrated irrefutably the discontinuous or molecular nature of matter. Colloidal suspensions and the phenomenon of Brownian motion thus became the key to confirmation of the 'new world-view' of statistical mechanics, the statistical basis of thermodynamics. One may conveniently identify four 'stages' in the historical development of 'Brownian motion science', characterized in turn by discovery, observation, theoretical prediction, and quantitative confirmation. We are living, of course, in the fifth stage, that of application: the modern discipline of 'soft matter'.
- PACS
- Subjects
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Soft matter, liquids and polymers
- Dates
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Issue 33 (26 August 2002)
Received 25 June 2002
Published 9 August 2002
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Colloidal suspensions, Brownian motion, molecular reality: a short history
M D Haw 2002 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 14 7769
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