Solidity of viscous liquids

Abstract

Recent NMR experiments on supercooled toluene and glycerol by Hinze and Böhmer show that small rotation angles dominate with only a few large molecular rotations. These results are here interpreted by assuming that viscous liquids are solidlike on short length scales. A characteristic length, the “solidity length,” separates solidlike behavior from liquidlike behavior. © 1999 The American Physical Society.