Browse Physics

Removing the charged layer around a particle allows detailed measurements of its motion in an electric field.

When rapidly deformed, a suspension of cornstarch in water not only becomes stiff like a solid but also fractures like one.

The use of optical tweezers in a high-pressure experiment allows a more direct measurement of water viscosity in extreme conditions.

A solid’s surface tension is usually difficult to separate from its bulk elasticity, but a new technique determines this property by measuring the contact angle of small droplets on a soft surface.

Defining a “temperature” for granular materials would allow them to be described with an equation of state.

Experiments show how the ripples in corrugated dirt roads can form and grow.

Previously observed convection in granular materials is now shown to be driven in part by the force of gravity, according to new microgravity experiments.

A new model of DNA is able to reproduce the observed features of self-organizing nanostructures in DNA origami.

Though often treated similarly, glass and jamming transitions are qualitatively different.

A phenomenon called capillary fracturing determines how fluids drain into tightly packed porous granular media.

A random laser formed from shaken grains can be partially manipulated by varying the amount of shaking, according to new experiments.

Finding the optimal solution to filling a volume with spheres could be useful for modeling nanoparticles.

Simulations reveal both solid- and liquidlike frictional properties in molecularly thin lubricants.

An obstacle at the exit of a silo relieves local pressure, aiding the flow of small particles that might otherwise clog.

Motion in an ice avalanche is strongly affected by the feedback effect of melting.

A discrepancy between theory and experiment regarding how molecules fold in response to applied forces is resolved.

A two-dimensional trap takes advantage of the magnetic domain walls in a narrow wire to guide the thermal motion of magnetic particles.

Corrugations found along the intestine’s inner wall reflect both a mechanical buckling and the constant birth and death of cells, theorists suggest.

Calculations elucidate how the lateral diffusion of macromolecules within a liquid membrane depends on the properties of the solvent layer surrounding it.

Ring formation in polymerization offers new insight into the formation of giant polymer clusters.