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Exploring Materials - Liquid Crystals

In this activity, learners will investigate the properties of a heat sensitive liquid crystal and make their own liquid crystal sensor to take home.

DESCRIPTION

"Exploring Materials - Liquid Crystals" is a hands on activity demonstrating that the way a material behaves on the macroscale is affected by its structure on the nanoscale. Visitors investigate the properties of a heat sensitive liquid crystal and make their own liquid crystal sensor to take home.

JUMP TO BROWSE RELATED RESOURCES
  • image of a handprint that was created using heat sensitive liquid crystals suspended in thermal paper
  • NanoDays heat sensitive liquid crystal card
  • laptop screen showing a NISE Net webpage.
  • a liquid crystal model made with straight woodsticks but stacked so they're curved.
  • A magnified image of liquid crystals
  • image of a handprint that was created using heat sensitive liquid crystals suspended in thermal paper
  • NanoDays heat sensitive liquid crystal card
  • laptop screen showing a NISE Net webpage.
  • a liquid crystal model made with straight woodsticks but stacked so they're curved.
  • A magnified image of liquid crystals

DESCRIPTION

"Exploring Materials - Liquid Crystals" is a hands on activity demonstrating that the way a material behaves on the macroscale is affected by its structure on the nanoscale. Visitors investigate the properties of a heat sensitive liquid crystal and make their own liquid crystal sensor to take home.

JUMP TO BROWSE RELATED RESOURCES

TRAINING VIDEOS

OBJECTIVES

BIG IDEA

The way a material behaves on the macroscale is affected by its structure on the nanoscale.

NANO CONTENT MAP

Nanometer-sized things are very small, and often behave differently than larger things do.

Nanoscience, nanotechnology, and nanoengineering lead to new knowledge and innovations that weren't possible before.

Credits

YEAR CREATED
2008
OWNING INSTITUTION

Sciencenter 

FUNDING

Developed for the NISE Network with funding from the National Science Foundation under Award Numbers 0532536 and 0940143. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this product are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.

PERMISSIONS

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 3.0 United States (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US).
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DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

NISE Network products are developed through an iterative collaborative process that includes scientific review, peer review, and visitor evaluation in accordance with an inclusive audiences approach. Products are designed to be easily edited and adapted for different audiences under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license. To learn more, visit our Development Process page.