You have a vial with few tee spoons of liquid crystal (LC) at the bottom. LC is in smectic phase, which means that molecules are not only aligned pointing predominantly along same director, but are also organized in parallel layers that happen to run East-West. Now, if you tilt vial 45 degree East/West you will observe LC flowing as regular liquid do, maintaining top surface horizontal. Question: what will happen when you tilt vial 45 degree North/South ? -al
