In a crystalline solid, the atoms form an ordered lattice. Crystalline solids respond elastically to small deformations: When the applied strain is removed, the macroscopic stress, as well as the ...

Why do avalanches start to slide? And what happens inside the "pile of snow?" If you ask yourself these questions, you are very close to a physical problem. This phenomenon not only occurs on mountain ...

(Nanowerk News) Many substances with different chemical and physical properties, from diamonds to graphite, are made up of carbon atoms. Amorphous forms of solid carbon do not have a fixed crystal ...

A class of glass that cannot crystallize, even given infinite time, is forcing physicists to rethink some of the oldest ...

Why do glass and other amorphous materials deform more easily in some regions than in others? A research team from the University of Osaka, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and ...

Glassy state: a new field theory describes amorphous materials such as glass beads. (Courtesy: iStock/schmidt-z) Many common materials such as glass, compacted sand and toothpaste have a solid’s ...

Groups of atoms or molecules arranged in different ways can be approximated by a single squishy bead with some effective stiffness. Tokyo, Japan – Scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University have ...

For more than a century, an important class of matter -- the amorphous solid -- has eluded scientists' ability to depict nature at the level of atoms and molecules. Until now. A new study reports the ...

Material engineers and scientists have long wanted to understand the atomic structures of amorphous solids such as glass, rubber and plastics more fully. Unlike the structures of crystalline materials ...

Researchers have developed a new method for understanding the structure organization of disordered materials fundamentally different from previous geometric approaches of ordered crystals. This ...