| PHYS5450 Introduction to Soft Matter Physics | |
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Soft matter constitutes a major part of the world around us. With huge complexity and rich emergent phenomena, soft matter presents many challenges and opportunities for contemporary science as well as for industrial applications. This course is designed to equip students with the basic knowledge in soft matter that can fulfill their immediate research needs in relevant fields. Students from physics, chemistry, quantitative life science, mechanical engineering, and biomedical engineering will benefit from the course.
The aim of this course is to provide students with the basic concepts and research methods in soft matter physics. Topics covered include: structural, thermodynamic and dynamical properties of macromolecules, gels, colloids, amphiphilic molecules, membranes and liquid crystals. Selected research topics in the frontiers of soft matter research, such as active matter and living matter, will be discussed in the form of group seminars. Principles of some of the major experimental techniques used in soft matter research will also be discussed. Students who take this course are expected to have some knowledge of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.
WU Yilin (Office: Sceince Centre North Room 306, Tel: 3943 6354, Email: ylwu AT cuhk.edu.hk)
WANG Yuhao (Email: yhwang@phy.cuhk.edu.hk, yuhaowang55@gmail.com, Tel: 3943 6394)
Consultation period: Tuesday 3-4
Office: Room 207/209, LG2/F Run Run Shaw Science Building
Sept 07, 2020- Dec. 12, 2020
Monday 4:30PM - 6:15PM Zoom meeting
Wednesday 4:30PM - 6:15PM Zoom meeting
Consultation Hours: by appointment with teacher.
1. Soft Condensed Matter, Richard A. L. Jones (Oxford University Press, 2002).
2. Masao Doi, Soft Matter Physics (Oxford, 2013)
3. Polymer Solutions | An Introduction to Physical Properties, Iwao Teraoka (Wiley Interscience, 2002).
4. Structured Fluids | Polymers, Colloids, Surfactants, T. A. Witten with P. A. Pincus (Oxford University Press, 2004).
5. Soft Condensed Matter Physics in Molecular and Cell Biology, edited by W. C. K. Poon and D. Andelman (Taylor & Francis, 2006).
6. Rob Phillips, Jane Kondev, Julie Theriot, Physical Biology of the Cell (Garland Science, 2013)
There will be homeworks, group discussion on selected research topics, and two in-class quizzes during the term but no final exam. In the latter part of the term, students will be required to do a project that consists of an oral presentation and a written report on selected topics provided by the teacher. The final grade will be determined as follows:
Homework: 30%
Quiz: 40%
Project (presentation & report) and in-class discussion/seminar: 30%
1. Introduction
2. Thermodynamics of soft matter solutions
3. Phase separation in soft matter solutions
4. Mechanical properties of soft matter
5. Diffusion Process
6. Colloidal suspensions
7. Polymer solutions
8. Ionic soft matter
9. Interfacial phenomena
10. Project presentations