Liquid Crystal Materials from Edmund Scientific
Liquid Crystal Materials from Edmund Scientific

 

Code Number: 4A10.50

Demo Title: Liquid Crystals

Condition: Good

Principle: Temperature Sensitive Materials

Area of Study: Thermodynamics

Equipment: 

Liquid Crystal Materials from Edmund Scientific, Liquid Crystal Postcard.

Procedure:

See also: 1R50.30 in Mechanics and 6H35.62 in Optics.

Pick out a liquid crystal sheet in the temperature range that you wish to use it.  For use with the fingers and hands you will need the liquid crystals that operate below 35 degrees centigrade.

You can also use the liquid crystal sheets as heat flow indicators by gluing them onto pieces of metal or plastic.

You can also focus a Maglite onto one of the sheets of liquid crystal and see the color change where the heat from the flashlight strikes the crystal.

References:

  • Jukka O, Mattila, "Laptop Art", TPT, Vol. 34, #2, Feb. 1996, p. 78.
  • Thomas M. Ciferno, Renate J. Ondris-Crawford, Gregory P. Crawford, "Inexpensive Electrooptic Experiments on Liquid Crystal Displays", TPT, Vol. 33, #2, Feb. 1995, p. 104.
  • Renate Ondris-Crawford, Gregory P. Crawford, and J. William Doane, "The Phase of the Future", TPT, Vol. 30, #6, Sept. 1992, p. 332.
  • "Liquid Crystal Displays: Watches, Calculators and (soon) Cars", TPT, Vol. 21, #7, Oct. 1983, p. 467.
  • Anthony J. Nicastro, "Demonstrations of Some Optical Properties of Liquid Crystals", TPT, Vol. 21, #3, Mar. 1983, p. 181.
  • Carl H. Hayn, "Liquid Crystal Displays", TPT, Vol. 19, #4, Apr. 1981, p. 256.
  • Mark Handschy, "More on Liquid Crystals", TPT, Vol. 19, #6, Sept. 1981, p. 362.
  • P. Andrew Penz, "Hydro-Optic Effects in Liquid Crystals", TPT, Vol. 13, #4, Apr. 1975, p. 199.
  • Gordon L. Johnson, "Sorry, Our Mistake", TPT, Vol. 13, #7, Oct.. 1975, p. 448.
  • Thomas Moses, Brian Durall, Gregory Frankowiak, "Magnetic Birefringence in a Liquid Crystal: An Experiment for the Advanced Undergraduate Laboratory", AJP, Vol. 68, #3, Mar. 2000, p. 248.
  • Peter J. Collings, "Liquid Crystal Displays", AJP, Vol. 63, #11, Nov. 1995, p. 1044.
  • Renate J. Ondris-Crawford, Gregory P. Crawford, and J. William Doane, "Resource Letter: LC-1: Liquid Crystals: Physics and Applications", AJP, Vol. 63, #9, Sep. 1995, p. 781.
  • E. F. Carr and J. P. McClymer, "A Laboratory Experiment on Interference of Polarized Light Using a Liquid Crystal", AJP, Vol. 59, #4, Apr. 1991, p. 366.
  • James L. Fergason, "Experiments with Cholesteric Liquid Crystals", AJP, Vol. 38, #4, Apr. 1970, p. 425.
  • Myron A. Jeppesen and William T. Hughes, "Liquid Crystals and Newton's Rings", AJP, Vol. 38, #2, Feb. 1970, p. 199.
  • Qing Zhang, Irmgard Bischofberger, "Twisted Liquid Crystal", Physics Today, Vol. 77, #2, Feb. 2024, p. 64.
  • Richard J. Fitzgerald, "The Nature and Art of Liquid Crystals", Physics Today, Vol. 71, #10, Oct. 2018, p. 76.
  • "Graphene Visualized", Physics Today, Vol. 70, #4, Apr. 2017, p. 72.
  • Peter Palffy-Muhoray, "The Diverse World of Liquid Crystals", Physics Today, Sept. 2007, p. 54.
  • H-018: Liquid Xtal-Galileo's Thermom.", DICK and RAE Physics Demo Notebook.
  • T. Kallard, "Optics Experiments with Liquid Crystals", Exploring Laser Light, p. 101.
  • Borislaw Bilash II, “Liquid Crystals“, A Demo A Day – A Year of Physical Science Demonstrations, p. 105.
 
4A10.50  - Liquid Crystals

 

4A10.50 -  Liquid Crystal Thermometers