The Physics of Materials How Science Improves Our Lives (1997) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
3 The Research Endeavor
3 The Research Endeavor
Pages 14-25
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 14... ...
At the same time, technological problems raise questions that demand new fundamental insights. For example, with new fundamental understanding of NDNE001~M PHENGMENAr we may soon see a qualitative improvement in our ability to predict and control complex properties of the structural materials used to manufacture everything from airplanes and bridges to electronic devices.
|
From page 15... ...
= PI 0~ Because ofthe astonishingly rapid advances in both hardware and software,the small workstations or PCs that sit on almost every scientist's desk these days have the power of machines that we called supercomputers little more than a decade ago. Today's supercomputers can simulate the behavior of hundreds of millions of interacting classical molecules or follow the transitions among comparable numbers of quantum states.
|
From page 16... ...
The so-called "renormalization-group" theory of critical fluctuations in condensed matter has helped us understand phenomena as varied as phase transformations, the interactions between elementary particles, and the fluctuations of the stock market. Chaos, turbulence, and pattern formation are other core concepts in this field that have had wide-ranging implications across the world of science.
|
From page 17... ...
Discoveries found at this frontier can be translatecl into practically useful technologies either as subsequent acivances make the extreme conclitions routinely achievable (as for the superconducting magnets in magnetic resonance imaging crevices with medical applicationsl,or by inspiring scientists to create new materials that display the newly discovered phenomena under less extreme circumstances. We suspect that throughout the rest of human history, the agenda of this most human of pursuits in materials research namely to produce the woricl's highest magnetic fielcis ancl pressures or the lowest temperatures, ancl to be the first to observe what these conclitions imply for materials from hycirogen to gallium arsenide will remain the same,with equally productive outcomes.
|
From page 18... ...
A particularly dramatic surprise was the discovery in 1986 sensus then growing among scientists that superconductivity could exist only at temperatures very near absolute zero. Now, just over a decade later, we are beginning to see commercially marketed devices based on superconductivity at easily accessible liquid-nitrogen temperatures, and we can look forward to decades of new developments.
|
From page 19... ...
We now have many complex materials that become superconducting at temperatures well above the boiling point of inexpensive liquid nitrogen, 77 K The occurrence of superconductivity in a totally unexpected class of materials, and the potential for its practical use above the temperature of liquid nitrogen, have motivated a wide range of research and development efforts over the past clecacle.
|
From page 20... ...
As we learn how to assemble increasingly complex structures from more and more complex building blocks, perhaps even from biological molecules, we can anticipate a whole new world of scientific phenomena and practical applications. Other completely unexpected discoveries of the last decade · ~ ~ zinc.
|
From page 21... ...
Others promise major acivances in computing ancl communications. These technological acivances have in turn enabled the structures ancl materials required for many of the accomplishments detailed in other sections of this report, such as the fractional quantum Hall effect.
|
From page 22... ...
Modern medical techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging and laser surgery were made possible by research in physics, and THE PHYSICS OF MACROMOLLCULLS is a well-established area of research at the intersection of physics, chemistry, and biology. Nevertheless, physics laboratories so far have played only relatively minor roles in mainstream biological research.
|
From page 23... ...
In this way, reptation a simple idea in conclensecl-matter ancl materials physics has had a major impact on both molecular biology ancl polymer engineering. Many challenges remain for the future,such as efficiently simulating the motion of macromolecules by computer ancl following the motion of biological macromolecules on surfaces at high resolution using new scanning probe microscopies.
|
From page 24... ...
As these examples illustrate, condensed-matter and materials physics is a vital field at the very crossroads of the scien tific enterprise. It combines the intellectual stimulation of investigations at the frontiers of human knowledge with the satisfaction of providing insights and capabilities that can improve all our lives.
|
From page 25... ...
In 1 995,scientists were able to pull straight the normally crumpled DNA molecule and measure the amount of work it took. The force required was only about a millionth the weight of a drop of water.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.