Browse Physics

Firing projectiles at plates of glass or plastic shows that the number of resulting cracks is an indicator of the impact velocity and of material properties.

Metallic glasses, new materials that are strong and durable, are not entirely disordered on the atomic scale but can have regions of near-crystalline order.

A spherically symmetric interaction force between particles can cause them to self-assemble into a surprisingly asymmetric (chiral) pattern in two dimensions, according to simulations.

Bundles of nearly identical carbon nanotubes have properties that are well-suited for making electricity from light.

A compound that shrinks when heated has a type of atomic vibration that hasn’t been observed in any other material and doesn’t conform to the usual “springlike” rules.

The 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recognizes the discovery of quasicrystals, in which atoms are ordered over long distances but not in the periodically repeating arrangement of traditional crystals.

Measurements of the world’s first x-ray laser show that it produces the most coherent (laser-like) and the purest (monochromatic) x-ray beam ever measured.

Researchers fabricated a material that generates an electric field due to a stretched atomic structure, and they modified its properties by changing its growth conditions. Similar materials may be useful in nanotechnology.

Scratching steel and other materials is unexpectedly dominated by a process of cutting rather than pressing, according to new experiments and analytical modeling.

A material filled with nanometer-sized particles could deform dramatically in a magnetic field. It may lead to improved magnetic materials for devices.

Atoms in graphite under high pressure appear to form a simple structure made of interconnected, four-atom rings, according to new computer simulations that were compared with previous experimental data.

The stretching of a sheet of paper shows spatial variations that become more important over time. Such uneven stretching could also be important when other materials are stressed.

X-ray studies reveal the nanocrystalline structure of the essential solid ‘glue’ in concrete.

A ceramic surface with a “brush” of nanoscale pillars can tolerate a sudden change in temperature without cracking, which might be useful for high temperature industrial processes.

A crack slices through Plexiglas in three very different ways, depending on its speed, according to experiments that reveal the complexities of crack propagation.

Computational work illustrates how multi-walled carbon nanotubes can create diamond nanocrystals.

According to a new theory, the extreme hardness of new layered materials comes from the strength of chemical bonds that are oriented perpendicular to the deforming force, rather than parallel, as might be expected.

A fraction of the soot particles produced in a flame can have a more rod-like, rather than bush-like structure, contradicting the conventional theory, which is relevant for industrial products and the atmosphere.

A crystal of buckyballs and loosely-bound lithium conducts electricity extremely well–possibly well enough to improve future lithium-ion batteries.

Turning up the voltage on a machine that makes thin films leads to a sudden “runaway” increase in its output, thanks to a feedback effect.