Simple Views on Condensed Matter

Download or read book Simple Views on Condensed Matter written by Pierre-Gilles de Gennes and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 1998 with total page 508 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume contains a selection of important papers by P-G de Gennes (1991 Nobel Prize Winner in Physics) which have had a long-lasting impact on our understanding of condensed matter (solid state physics, liquid crystals, polymers, interfaces, wetting and adhesion). A typical example is the original article on "reptation" of polymer chains. The author has added some "afterthoughts" to the main papers (explaining their successes or weaknesses), and the current views on each special problem. Complex systems (polymers or granular matters, etc) are explained without heavy calculations -- using simple scaling laws as the main tool.