Magnetic, Electric and Transport Properties

Abstract

Some properties of liquid crystals depend mainly on properties of individual molecules and approximately obey the additivity law. Thus, molecular properties can be translated, of course with some precautions, onto the properties of a mesophase on account of the symmetry of the latter. Quantitatively, the relevant phenomenological characteristics such as magnetic and dielectric susceptibilities, electric and thermal conductivity, diffusion coefficients, etc. can be calculated by averaging molecular parameters with the corresponding single-particle distribution function. Other properties of liquid crystals such as elasticity or viscosity dramatically depend on intermolecular interactions and the corresponding many-particle distribution functions have to be taken into account.