Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 4, 2026

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets
Published on: May 15, 2017
Observation of a liquid-to-layered transition in thin liquid films when surface and interface regions overlap
Dong Ryeol Lee1, Pulak Dutta, Chung-Jong Yu
1Pohang Accelerator Laboratory and Department of Physics, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang 790-784, Korea.
Abstract:
We have used x-ray reflectivity to study the coupling of surface and interface layering in a molecularly thin normal liquid [tetrakis(2-ethylhexoxy)silane (TEHOS)], as a function of temperature and film thickness. The best fits to the data were obtained with an electron density model that consists of a uniform density component superimposed upon molecular-scale density oscillations (layers). The two types of layer profiles were observed to vary with temperature from 187-286 K . The amount of material in the molecular layers increases as that in the uniform density layer decreases, with the onset of liquid-to-layered transition occurring at a total film thickness of approximately 40 A (about twice the bulk correlation length of TEHOS).
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Boundary Layer Characteristics
Two Components: Liquid–Liquid Systems
Phase Transitions: Vaporization and Condensation
Phase Transitions: Sublimation and Deposition
Theories of Dissolution: Diffusion Layer Model
This process starts with a thin layer, saturated with the drug, forming at the interface between the solid and liquid. The solute then diffuses from this layer into the main solution. The Noyes-Whitney equation suggests that the rate of dissolution relies on the diffusion...
Viscosity
The SI unit of viscosity is...

