These materials form in highly concentrated polymer solutions, like when you heat up agarose, then let it cool down and crosslink.
A critical point named for these substances is given by a power law that depends on the "front factor" and the relaxation modulus. These substances are the namesake of the Trommsdorff effect, in which free radical polymerizations auto-accelerate. These substances form when the branching coefficient is one over the number of reactive groups minus one by Flory-Stockmayer theory. Percolation theory explains why some of them are thermoreversible. Tetraethyl orthosilicate is used to synthesize ceramics in a transition named for these substances and (*) solutions. A class of these substances that "self-heal" are used as scaffolds in tissue engineering. They serve as the stationary phase in size-exclusion chromatography. These materials form in highly concentrated polymer solutions, like when you heat up agarose, then let it cool down and crosslink. For 10 points, name these colloidal dispersions of a liquid in a solid, which are used in electrophoresis.
A critical point named for these substances is given by a power law that depends on the "front factor" and the relaxation modulus.
gels [or hydrogels; or other types of gels; prompt on polymers; prompt on colloids; prompt on dispersions]