>> COLLOIDS ARE EVERYWHERE,
OKAY?
THEY'RE EVERYWHERE
IN OUR EVERYDAY LIFE.
OKAY, YOU MAY NOT REALIZE IT.
BUT THERE- THERE- UH,
YOU CAN SEE IT IN PAINTS,
YOU CAN SEE IT IN, UM, PASTES,
YOU CAN SEE IT IN
HIGH TECH CERAMICS.
YOU CAN SEE IT IN, UH,
PHOTONIC MATERIALS.
AND THEY EVEN SORT OF--
THE IDEAS, UM, ABOUT COLOR
AND THINGS LIKE THAT.
HOW TO CONTROL IT.
UM, PART OF THAT--
THOSE IDEAS KIND OF MERGE
FROM COLLOID SCIENCE.
THERE'S LOTS OF THINGS THAT
OF COURSE WE CAN GAIN BY
UNDERSTANDING THESE MATERIALS
AT A FUNDAMENTAL LEVEL.
TO CONTROL THEM,
WE WANNA UNDERSTAND THEM
AND THE MICROGRAVITY ENVIRONMENT
LETS US UNDERSTAND THEM
IN LOTS OF NEW WAYS.
AND THEN WHAT WE'RE DOING
IN THE EXPERIMENT,
WE'RE GONNA DO SEVERAL THINGS.
ONE OF THE, UH,
CORNERSTONES OF IT IS TO
STUDY HOW A CRYSTAL CAN
TURN INTO A GLASS.
SO YOU'RE PROBABLY USED TO
MAKING A GLASS.
BASICALLY WHAT THEY DO
IS THEY START IT WITH
A MOLTEN MATERIAL AND THEY
COOL IT VERY RAPIDLY.
AND THEN THE ATOMS
GET FROZEN INTO PLACE.
IT BECOMES IF YOU LIKE, A SOLID.
GLASSES ARE, UH, AS YOU KNOW
ARE-- THEY'RE FRAGILE.
OKAY, SO IT MAY BE HARD,
BUT IT'S FRAGILE.
IT'S BETTER IF I HAD
A HARD MATERIAL THAT WAS TOUGH.
OKAY?
THAT DIDN'T JUST SHATTER.
BUT YOU CAN ALSO HAVE
A CRYSTAL BECOMING A GLASS.
AND YOU COULD DO THAT BY,
FOR EXAMPLE, ADDING DISORDER
INTO THE CRYSTAL.
OKAY?
SO, FOR EXAMPLE, IF I HAVE
A CRYSTAL OF PARTICLES AND I
JUST MIX IN A SMALL NUMBER, SAY,
A FEW PERCENT OF A PARTICLE
OF A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT SIZE.
THE MORE AND MORE YOU ADD,
THE MORE AND MORE
POTENTIAL FOR DISORDER.
AND WHAT WE FOUND IN SOME
EXPERIMENTS IN 2D ON EARTH,
IF YOU HAVE EVEN, YOU KNOW,
RELATIVELY LITTLE AMOUNT OF
DOPANTS, YOU CAN ACTUALLY HAVE
THE CRYSTAL SUDDENLY BE
CONVERTING INTO A GLASS.
MOST OF THE WORK DONE ABOUT
GLASSES HAS TO DO WITH LOOKING
AT GOING FROM A LIQUID
TO A, UH, GLASS.
INSTEAD OF A LIQUID
TO A CRYSTAL.
WHAT WE'RE DOING, THEN,
IS WE'RE GONNA GO ALL THE WAY.
WE'RE GONNA GO FROM HAVING
LIQUIDS TO GLASSES TO CRYSTAL.
GO ONE WAY, GO THE OTHER WAY
AND LOOK AT- HOW DOES
THE TRANSFORMATIONS OCCUR?
WE'RE GONNA BE ABLE TO
LOOK AT THOSE, UH,
REARRANGEMENTS BECAUSE,
IT'S VERY INTERESTING,
THE STRUCTURES' ALMOST EXACTLY
THE SAME, BUT THE DYNAMICS
GET SLOWER AND SLOWER.
SO WE WANNA UNDERSTAND
THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
OF THESE DISTORTED SYSTEMS,
AND THAT'S HARD BECAUSE
IT'S HARD TO IDENTIFY
WHAT THE DEFECTS ARE.
THAT'S ONE IMPORTANT PROBLEM,
THERE ARE OTHER INTERESTING
PROBLEMS ABOUT GLASSES.
NOW, UM, WE'RE--
SO WE'RE GONNA STUDY GLASSES.
OKAY?
IN THIS-- IN THESE EXPERIMENTS
THAT WE'RE GONNA LOOK AT
WE'RE GONNA BASICALLY MAKE
SUPER COOL LIQUIDS,
MAKE GLASSES, AND THEN LOOK AT
HOW THE DYNAMICS, UH, UH,
VARIES IN THESE SYSTEMS.
OKAY?
AND HOW IT'S RELATED,
IF YOU LIKE, TO STRUCTURE.
THIS IS A NEW KIND OF, UM,
PROBLEM, UH, WHICH ACTUALLY IT
TURNS OUT IS INTERESTING AGAIN
FROM A COMMERCIAL POINT OF VIEW
BECAUSE, FOR EXAMPLE, UH,
IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
OFTEN YOU WANNA HAVE A MATERIAL
THAT SORT OF DISSOLVES QUICKLY
OR SLOWLY INTO THE BODY.
IT TURNS OUT THAT IF YOU HAVE
A-A CRYSTAL OF THIS STUFF,
THAT IT ACTUALLY MIGHT DISSOLVE,
UM, VERY SLOWLY.
BUT IF YOU HAD A GLASS,
IT MIGHT DISSOLVE QUICKLY.
THAT COULD BE GOOD.
IT'S INTERESTING TO THINK ABOUT
HOW WE CAN MAKE SOMETHING.
UM, MAYBE IT'S EASIER TO MAKE
IT INITIALLY AS A CRYSTAL,
BUT HOW WE SHOULD MAKE IT
BECOME, UH, GLASSY.
THE OPPORTUNITY AGAIN TO USE
A CONFOCAL MICROSCOPE IN SPACE
IS ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL TO
LOOKING AT THE SAMPLE IN 3D.
AND SO THAT LETS US LOOK
INSIDE THE SAMPLE RATHER THAN
JUST ON THE SURFACE OF IT.
AND SO WE CAN REALLY LOOK AT
THE INTERNAL DYNAMICS.
THAT'S GIVING US
FUNDAMENTAL INFORMATION
ABOUT THE NATURE OF A GLASS.
OKAY?
AND WE'RE REALLY ABLE
TO DO IT BECAUSE WE CAN
LOOK AT ALL THE ATOMS, WE CAN
LOOK AT ALL THEIR POSITIONS,
AND WE CAN, UH, DO THIS
OVER A LONG PERIOD OF TIME.
AND IN A THERMODYNAMIC SYSTEM,
BECAUSE IT'S IN MICROGRAVITY.
THE SCIENTISTS AND THE ENGINEERS
AT NASA AND WORKING WITH
THEM AT NASA GLENN,
THEY ARE SORT OF THE BLOOD
THAT MAKES THE SYSTEM WORK.
THEY UNDERSTAND
WHAT WE NEED TO DO,
THEY UNDERSTAND THE HARD THINGS
THAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND.
RIGHT, I'M ALWAYS SORT OF
THINKING YOU CAN DO THIS
AND-AND THEY'RE
MAKING IT HAPPEN, OKAY?
BUT IT-- THEN I FOUND OUT AS
THEY'RE DOING IT THAT IT'S NOT
SO EASY TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.
IT'S A GREAT GROUP TO WORK WITH,
THEY'RE SUPER COMMITTED TO
NOT JUST MY PROJECT
BUT LOTS OF DIFFERENT PROJECTS.
AND THE IDEA THAT YOU CAN DO
REALLY FUNDAMENTALLY NEW THINGS
IN SPACE THAT, UH,
YOU CAN'T DO HERE JUST ON EARTH.
IN TERMS OF WHAT I WOULD LIKE,
I MEAN THE SKY'S THE LIMIT,
REALLY.
AND WHAT ARE THE POSSIBILITIES
FOR ASSEMBLY WITH COLLOIDS?
IN A BROAD-- IN A BROAD SENSE,
IN MICROGRAVITY.
BECAUSE WE CAN MAYBE
DO COLLOIDAL ENGINEERING
ULTIMATELY TO, UM,
MAKE NOVEL MATERIALS THAT ARE
USEFUL FOR APPLICATIONS ON
EARTH THAT ARE HARD TO MAKE.
IT'S AN INTERESTING POTENTIAL
USE FOR MICROGRAVITY.