A superconducting material in the presence of a magnetic field excludes that field from its interior. This is shown by levitating a magnet above a high temperature superconductor.
The strength of a material in tension or compression will be affected by discontinuities in its surface structure. This can be demonstrated for glass using microscope slides, and the comparison of failure stress before and after the removal...
The selective reflection of a specific wavelength of light through a chiral nematic liquid crystal is temperature dependent and forms the basis for LCD thermograms and thermometers.
When sand in a balloon, just as atoms in a lattice, are close packed, they occupy the least possible volume. Any deformation, even compression, deforms this close-packed arrangement causing an increase in volume.
Mechanical properties of some materials change dramatically with temperature. These changes have entertaining effects on everyday objects by taking them from room temperature 300K to the temperature of liquid nitrogen 77K.
