Introduction to Soft Matter: Polymers, Colloids, Amphiphiles and Liquid Crystals [Paperback]

Ian W. Hamley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 14, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0471899526 | ISBN-13: 978-0471899525 | Edition: 1

Provides an introduction to this exciting subject with chapters covering natural and synthetic polymers, colloids, surfactants, and liquid crystals, highlighting the many and varied applications of these materials.
* The only introductory book on this subject
* Cutting-edge introduction to a new and emerging subject area
* An interdisciplinary approach suitable of chemistry, materials science, physics, and biochemistry courses
* Copious end-of-chapter problems

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It is well written in an
easy-to-follow style and deals with
some quite complex topics by good
use of analogy and comparison."
(Chemistry in Britain, August 2000)

"a timely and concise textbook on
"soft matter" suitable for both
undergraduate students and
researchers" (Advanced Materials,
Vol.13, No.11, 2001)

From the Back Cover

The idea of a unified approach to the chemistry and physics of soft matter has only recently emerged. Soft materials, sometimes known as complex fluids, include polymers, colloids, amphiphiles, surfactants and liquid crystals. These apparently diverse materials have common structural and dynamic properties that fall between those of crystalline solids and simple molecular liquids and gases. Soft and flexible materials are the result of the complexity and intricacy of molecular self-assemly. The versatility of this ordering has been exploited by manufacturing industry to make paints, plastics, detergents and many other everyday products. In the natural world, self-assembly drives the ordering of proteins and nucleic acids. The principles by which mankind and nature harness supra-molecular ordering in soft matter are outlined in this book. Introduction to Soft Matter is the first introductory text presenting a comprehensive and unified coverage of a subject that spans the disciplines of chemistry, materials science and physics. It will appeal to students of polymer, colloid and surface science as well as serving as an excellent introduction for researchers in the field. A series of questions and answers is provided at the end of each chapter.

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (March 14, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471899526
• ISBN-13: 978-0471899525
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,516,336 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #92 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Chemistry > Polymers & Macromolecules

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A concised and unified overview on soft matter, January 19, 2004

By 

Pichierri Fabio (Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Introduction to Soft Matter: Polymers, Colloids, Amphiphiles and Liquid Crystals (Paperback)

This book contains a concised overview on soft matter physics or what chemists use to call colloid chemistry. As stated by the author in the Preface, it has been written primarily for undergraduate students. However, it should be also useful to researchers that are looking for a unified view of the subject. The book is organized in five chapters: 1) Introduction, 2) Polymers, 3) Colloids, 4) Amphiphiles, and 5) Liquid crystals. Each chapter includes both FURTHER READING and QUESTIONS sections (numerical solutions to the questions are provided at the end of the book). All in all this quasi-pocket book appear to have reached its scope, I think, and hence I rated it with five stars. Readers that want to dig deeper into this subject may consult the book Soft Matter Physics: an Introduction, by Kleman and Lavrentovich (648 pp). Those wishing to take an intermediate step, may consult the recently published book Soft Condensed Matter by Jones (230 pp).