Browse Physics

A uniform stream of liquid can form one big drop or break up into many droplets. Experiments test the conditions that lead to breakup.

Classical physics explains why isotopes segregate in molten rock.

Salt crystallizing on walls or old artifacts forms in discrete bunches, rather than coating the surface, because of an unexpected feedback effect, according to experiments and simulations.

A sheet of tiny structures, such as nanoscale graphene disks, can absorb all incident light of a specific wavelength coming from any direction, theory suggests.

The Millikan oil drop experiment, published in final form in 1913, demonstrated that charge comes in discrete chunks and was a bridge between classical electromagnetism and modern quantum physics.

A proposed device improves on past designs and would sort small particles from large ones to a purity of over 99 percent, without any moving parts.

A new technique measures each unit of charge that accumulates on a submerged plastic bead, unprecedented resolution for a liquid-solid interface and an experiment that may benefit a variety of commercial devices and processes.

Infrared spectroscopy can detect trace gases and potentially provide an alternative carbon dating technique.

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

Researchers spatially vary the strength of superconductivity on a nanometer scale using a ferroelectric material on top.

A new thought experiment makes it clearer than ever that photons aren’t simply particles or waves.

Theorists propose an experiment to observe a “phoniton,” a novel hybrid of an electron and a quantum of vibration in a crystal lattice.

A new, secure way to send messages camouflages them inside the same kind of self-organizing patterns that appear in vegetation patterns and the stripes on animal coats.

An improved version of a technique for folding tiny objects from a thin membrane uses a magnetic field to affect the shape. The membrane wraps around a droplet of fluid that distorts in response to the field.

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.

A new technique measures the strength with which viruses attach to cells by detecting individual virus-binding and unbinding events.

Researchers have demonstrated the key piece of equipment needed to produce the intense positron beams required for the next generation of particle accelerators.

A new model explains how subterranean ice can grow into large sheets that lift the earth and damage roads and buildings.

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.