Super Gel
(Sfx: "watch it wiggle . . .") 
     JELLO REALLY IS FASINATING TO WATCH.  KIND OF FIRM, KIND OF SQUISHY --IT JUST
CAN'T BE LABELED AS A CLASSIC SOLID, LIQUID OR GAS.  SCIENTISTS REFER TO IT AS A
"GEL" SAYS TOYO TONAKA.

     Tonaka: "Gels are jello-like materials they are soft elastic byt htey are mostly water,
for example ordinary jello , 95% is water . . .but the rest is very important whichi s made of
long chain molecules calle dpolymers and those polymers are crosslinked are bridge in
the form of a network and because it's a network it is elastic. "

     THE NETWORK OF POLYMERS IS SOLID, BUT THERE'S LIQUID IN BETWEEN THEM. 
TOGETHER THEY MAKE A WIGGLY GEL. TONAKA IS A PHYSICIST AT MIT AND HE'S RECENTLY
CREATED A SMART GEL.  IT'S SMART BECAUSE THE NETWORK OF POLYERS CAN SHRINK AND
SWELL ON COMMAND. 

     Tonaka: "Those polymers are electrically charged an the electrical repulsion
between the charges can expand the polymers in a very large extenet and thos
polymers can absorb many thousand times of their volume."

     LIGHT, TEMPERATURE AND ELECTRICITY CAN ALL START THE PROCESS OF MAKING
THE POLYMERS REPULSE EACH OTHER AND BEGIN TO SWELL.  WHY IS THIS INTERESTING
BEYOND SHEER VISUAL FUN?  WELL, THE FIRST PRODUCT TO USE TONAKA'S GEL WILL BE A
GOLF SHOE--THE TEMPERATURE OF YOUR FOOT WILL MAKE THE GEL SWELL UNTIL IT
PERFECTLY FITS THE SHAPE OF YOUR FOOT.  BUT TONAKA THINKS IT COULD SOMEDAY BE
USED TO MAKE ARTICIFIAL MUSCLES, TOO.