Colors in Liquid Crystals. Cholesteric liquid crystals are used to spatially map regions of different temperature. In the JCE Classroom Activity, students investigate the relationship between temperature and composition and the reflected and transmitted colors of a common nanoscale material, the cholesteric liquid crystal. In the photograph six thermoelectric devices (see J. Chem. Educ.1996,73, 940-946) are located under the liquid crystal as a source of heat.
Images provided by George Lisensky and Elizabeth Boatman.
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