Physics
Structure–Property Relationships in Liquid Crystals for Display Technology
Quick fact
Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) use only a few micrometers of liquid crystal material—less than a tenth of the width of a human hair—to control the brightness of millions of pixels.
Why this is interesting
Every time you glance at a digital watch or a high-res screen, you are looking through a material that flows like water yet aligns like a crystal—and it switches its optical state billions of times a second. How does a substance that is neither fully solid nor fully liquid create such vivid images?