R. Zenit (zenit@servidor.unam.mx)
Instituto de Investigaciones en Materiales, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México

Some materials are elastic solids; some others are viscous liquids. There is a class of materials which has properties of both solids and liquids: their properties are viscoelastic. Such fluids (solids?) can be found in nature and industry. In this sequence of images, the collision of a viscoelastic drop (or particle) is observed with a high speed camera. If the particle were a solid, it would deform upon collision and rebound. If it were a liquid, it would splash and flow. For a viscoelastic drop we observe that both processes can be observed: first, when the drop touches the wall, it spreads and begins to splash; after a certain time, the material 'remembers' its original state and begins to recoil; the drop reforms and a rebound is observed. Such simple observations help us to understand the properties of viscoleastic materials.

This work was supported by UNAM.

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