A drop of water with tiny particles dries on a table. The water evaporates, leaving the particles behind, and they arrange into a pattern, like sand after the tide. But if the particles are soft, the pattern turns out quite different. Researchers studied this process under a microscope, varying only one property of the particles: their elasticity.

Stiff particles, like billiard balls, repel each other and assemble into a regular lattice — a crystal. Soft particles, like cushions, flatten upon contact and start sticking to each other. Then, instead of a crystal, a gel forms — a loose network of stuck-together clumps, with voids and uneven aggregates. Between these extremes lie intermediate states: isolated islands, holes, elongated chains.

To verify their observations, the authors built a computer model that accounted for four forces: hydrophobicity, capillary attraction, repulsion upon compression, and magnet-like interaction. The model reproduced all the observed patterns. The conclusion is simple: particle elasticity is the main lever for controlling colloidal assembly on a liquid surface.