Gels

thumb|Green tea-flavored yōkan, a popular Japanese red bean jelly made from agar thumb|A blood agar plate used to culture bacteria and diagnose infection

thumb|right|Sheet (or leaf) gelatin for cooking.

thumb|An upturned vial of hair gel|241x241px thumb|Silica gel A gel is a semi-solid that can have properties ranging from soft and weak to hard and tough. Gels are defined as a substantially dilute cross-linked system, which exhibits no flow when in the steady state, although the liquid phase may still diffuse through this system.

granular, vitreous, porous form of silicon dioxide

method for separation and analysis of macromolecules

liquid products used for cleaning the body

condensation of monomers or oligomers dispersed in a colloidal solution (sol) into a biphasic aqueous polymeric network (gel)

substance used to increase viscosity of a liquid

Polyacrylamide (abbreviated as PAM or pAAM) is a polymer with the formula (-CH2CHCONH2-). It has a linear-chain structure. PAM is highly water-absorbent, forming a soft gel when hydrated. In 2008, an estimated 750,000,000 kg were produced, mainly for water treatment and the paper and mineral industries.

thumb|right|Gelatin, here in sheets for cooking, is a hydrogel. thumb|Peptide hydrogel formation shown by the inverted vial method.

chemical compound

test to measure the strength of a gel or gelatin

thumb|Polymers prior (no gel) and after crosslinking (gel)

water-absorbing polymer