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.
Liquid crystals are an intermediate state of...
Louis de Broglie predicted that matter under certain circumstances would exhibit wave-like properties. A proof of this is the repeat of X-ray diffraction experiments using electrons, whose de Broglie wavelengths at high accelerating...
A simplified model crystal with non-rigid inter-atomic bonds. You can show that solids really do vibrate, distort and expand.
A cubic lattice of 3×3×3 15cm diameter Styrofoam™ spheres linked by 3cm steel springs. The springs...
A supersaturated solution is unstable, and by seeding it you can trigger rapid crystallization.
Sodium acetate can dissolve in water in great quantities at high temperature, and if you let the solution cool carefully to around...
By providing a cold boundary, you can get water to crystalize as advancing needles of ice.
This cold boundary can be provided by a petri dish of alcohol. Adding dry ice to this produces an endothermic reaction that lowers the...
Video of our demo in action https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUpOlqbHcjI
The following is a sequence of experiments that can accompany a standard lecture on electromagnetic waves. The entire sequence is quite long and you may not want to do...
Pure water cooled to below 273K without freezing; seeded to spontaneously crystallize.
A liquid can be taken to a temperature below its freezing point if it is cooled slowly and there are no nucleation sites for crystallization to begin. In...
Brass ball doesn't fit through brass ring until ring is heated.
Most solids (see Comments) expand when heated due to increased atomic and lattice vibrations. In this demo, a brass ring expands when heated to let a previously too small a ball...
Simulation of molecular motion (Brownian, diffusion, etc.) with ball bearings on shaking table.
Two dimensional simulations of molecular dynamics and crystal structure using ball bearings. It can be used to show qualitatively the dynamics of...
