(29b) Order and Disorder in Complex Fluids

We have benefitted from the ability to treat a number of colloidal suspensions as model systems interacting via model potentials. In this tribute to William B. Russel on the occasion of his birthday, I will outline some of the interesting phenomena we see in order-disorder transitions in colloidal suspensions. We will touch upon behavior of charged colloidal (nano) particles, polymeric micelles and proteins on lipid membranes. We will evaluate these systems by modeling the interactions between them through our understanding of the physical forces dominating their behavior. We apply simple statistical mechanical principles to understanding and predicting their ordering behavior.