Physics of Soft and Biological Matter 1 WS 2013/2014
Overview
- Type
- Lecture (2 SWS) and Tutorials (every 2nd week)
- Lecturer
- Prof. Dr. Christian Holm and Prof. Dr. Clemens Bechinger (Lecture); Dr. Jens Smiatek (Tutorials)
- Course language
- English
- Location and Time
- October 17th, 2013 - February 6th, 2014
- Lecture: Thu, 14:00 - 15:30 (Seminar room ICP 1.079, Allmandring 3)
- Tutorials: tba.
- Prerequisites
- B. Sc. 5. Semester or Master
Scope
The lecture intends to give an overview about the physics behind soft and biological matter which has been established as a novel interdisciplinary research field over the last decades. Soft matter typically includes easily deformable objects like colloids, polymers/polyelectrolytes, membranes, liquid crystals as well as vesicles and micelles. Most soft matter effects are driven by electrostatic, van-der-Waals, solute-solvent as well as entropic interactions. Typical phenomena include order-disorder phase transitions or aggregation behavior. The lecture will focus on the physical principles behind the observed effects. In addition, fundamental principles and theories like the DLVO- and the Poisson-Boltzmann theory will be introduced. The interdisciplinary character of this research field is reflected by the presentation of experimental and theoretical work in addition to numerical simulation results.
Recommended literature
- Richard A. L. Jones: Soft Condensed Matter, Oxford University Press (2002)
- D. Fennell Evans and Hakan Wennerström: The Colloidal Domain - Where Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Technology Meet, Wiley-VCH (1999)
- Robert J. Hunter: Foundations of Colloid Science, Oxford University Press (2002)
- Gert R. Strobl: The Physics of Polymers: Concepts for Understanding Their Structures and Behavior, Springer (2007)
- Jean-Pierre Hansen and Ian R. McDonald: Theory of Simple Liquids, Academic Press (2006)
Course Material
Date | Subject | Lecturer | |
---|---|---|---|
17.10.2013 | Motivation and historical overview | Bechinger | |
24.10.2013 | Many-particle systems: description of structural properties | Holm | |
31.10.2013 | Pair interactions between dispersed particles | Bechinger | |
07.11.2013 | Phase transitions: general introduction | Holm | |
14.11.2013 | Poisson-Boltzmann theory | Holm | |
21.11.2013 | Introduction to polymer physics | Holm | |
28.11.2013 | Polyelectrolytes | Holm | |
05.12.2013 | Experimental techniques | Bechinger | |
12.12.2013 | Phase transitions in 2D systems | Bechinger, Holm | |
19.12.2013 | Xmas lecture: Soft matter food science | Bechinger, Holm | |
09.01.2014 | Depletion interactions I | Bechinger | |
16.01.2014 | Depletion interactions II | Holm | |
23.01.2014 | tba. | Bechinger | |
30.01.2014 | Biological soft matter | Holm | |
06.02.2014 | Lab tour | Bechinger |