ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Irving Langmuir

Irving Langmuir was a scientist who lived a long time ago. He studied things called atoms and molecules, which are tiny particles that make up everything around us. He wanted to understand how these particles move and how they interact with each other.

One thing he discovered was that when these tiny particles stick together, they can form layers. He called these layers "monolayers." Think of it like stacking tiny LEGO blocks on top of each other until you have a big tower. The monolayer is the very top LEGO block.

Langmuir was also interested in gases, which are things that we can't see or touch but that we breathe in all the time. He discovered that gases can stick to surfaces like metal or glass. This is called adsorption. Have you ever seen how water beads up on a waxed car? That's because the water molecules are adsorbed onto the surface of the wax.

In fact, Langmuir found that different gases adsorb onto different surfaces in different ways. He even came up with a way to measure how much gas sticks to a surface at different temperatures and pressures.

All of Langmuir's work helped us better understand how atoms and molecules interact with each other. His discoveries have helped us create new materials, like special coatings for airplane wings to make them more aerodynamic.