A Material World

From the heterostructures that make possible the use of exotic electronic states in optoelectronic devices to the application of shape memory alloys as filters for blood clots, the inception of novel materials is a central part of modern invention. While in the nineteenth century, invention was acknowledged through the celebrity of inventors like Nikola Tesla, it has become such a constant part of everyday life that inventors have been thrust into anonymity and we are faced daily with the temptation to forget to what incredible levels of advancement man s use of materials has been taken. Part of the challenge that attends these novel and sophisticated uses of materials is that of constructing reliable insights into the origins of the properties that make them attractive. The aim of the present chapter is to examine the intellectual constructs that have been put forth to characterize material response, and to take a first look at the types of models that have been advanced to explain this response. 

1 Materials A Databook Perspective What is a material The answer to this seemingly nonsensical question strikes right to the heart of some of the key issues it is the aim of this book to examine. 

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You cannot escape from the scope of chemistry because we are living in a material world, or chemical world. Have you ever thought that we need chemicals everyday in every second to live ... 

Horgan, T. 1993. From Supervenience to Superdupervenience Meeting the Demands of a Material World. Mind 102 555-586. 

Living in a Materials World Solid-State Chemistry... 

Sanford, K. and Kumar, M. (2005) New proteins in a materials world. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 16,416-421. 

Mankind is made of molecules, and He acts within a material world as the ruler of matter. Chemistry is the know-how that mediates between the material essence of Mankind and His mastery over matter. As such, chemistry is two-faced, like the Roman God Janus depicted in Picture 10.1 ... 

Since we live in a material world there cannot be novel technology without new or improved materials, and they must be synthesized. Synthesis is both a matter of creative design and experimental skill, and no target structure can prove this claim better than conjugated polymers. The crucial role of synthesis is what has led to the concept of this book not so much as a theoretical exercise on-paper , but as a practical, hands-on approach. It is intended to convince the reader of the beauty of conjugated polymer design and synthesis, but not set aside the technical difficulties and experimental pitfalls. 

There is no absolute knowledge in science and the scientific method assumes that there is a material world of objects and phenomena existing out there that is independent of the observers, the scientists. However, some physicists might question the assertion that the material world is independent of the observers. Thus, Schrodinger s cat is both alive and dead until the observation is made, i.e. the box is opened, the wave function is collapsed, and one of the eventualities - alive or dead - is manifested. 

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