Soft Matter. A Very Short Introduction

Soft matter science explores materials such as polymers, colloids, liquid crystals, and foams. Drawing on physics, chemistry, mathematics, and engineering, soft matter links fundamental scientific ideas to everyday phenomena such as"inkiness" and "stickiness", with a rich history and philosophy. This Very Short Introduction delves into the field of soft matter, looking beneath the appearances of matter into its inner structure.
Tom McLeish shows how Brownian motion—the random molecular motion underlying "heat"—is an underpinning principle of soft matter. From rubber to shampoo, he discusses how common characteristics of these materials shape their behaviour and applications.