Round 20: Tossup 8

These materials are often anchored by polyimide films rubbed with velvet. Elastic forces and anisotropic surface tension in microdroplets of these materials drive their growth from tactoids. The Frank elastic constants quantify resistance to deformation in these materials, (10[1])which can be imaged by POM. Characteristic quantities of these materials disappear at the clearing point. By providing constant input, TFTs limit these materials’ relaxation in “active” matrix set-ups compared to passive ones. In chiral types of these materials, the director can be characterized with a varying pitch angle. In a “twisted” effect named for a type of these materials, an applied voltage changes the orientation of rod-shaped molecules that are arranged in parallel. For 10 points, cholesteric, smectic, and nematic are phases of what ordered fluids? ■END■

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