Speaker:  Michael Brenner , Harvard University

Title:   Drying Mediated Self assembly

Abstract:  Developing reliable strategies for controlling the assembly of small objects into functional structures is of great current interest. I will describe some current experimental efforts in this area, and focus on a particularly beautiful example of V. Manahoran and D. Pine in which small spheres assembled into precise configurations through the drying of interstitial fluid (Science 301, pg 483). For a given number of spheres, the structures that formed uniquely corresponded to the sphere packing that minimized the moment of inertia. I will describe our recent efforts at understanding these results, focusing on the important role that geometrical constraints play in determining the final packing.

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