A gel is a semi-solid with qualities that range from soft and pliable to hard and durable.

A gel is
a substantially dilute cross-linked system that does not flow when in the steady-state, though the
liquid phase can still diffuse through it. A gel is phenomenologically characterised as a soft,
solid, or solid-like material made up of two or more components, one of which is a liquid that is
present in significant amounts. Gels are primarily liquid by weight, but because of a three-
dimensional cross-linked network inside the liquid, they behave like solids. The structure
(hardness) of a gel is determined by crosslinking within the fluid, which also contributes to the
sticky stickiness (tack). Gels are a dispersion of liquid molecules within a solid medium in this
way. Thomas Graham, a 19th-century Scottish scientist, invented the term gel by taking a word
from gelatine. Gelation is the process of producing a gel.
A colloidal system is one in which a liquid is disseminated in a solid medium. Lyophilic sols can
be coagulated into a semisolid jelly-like mass that absorbs all of the liquid in the solution.
Gelation is the process of forming a gel, and the resulting colloidal system is known as gel. It is
known that some gels liquify when shaken and then reset when allowed to stand. Thixotropy is
the name for this reversible solution gel transition. Gels include gum arabic, processed cheese,
silicic acid, gelatin, ferric hydroxide, and others. Gels can shrink if they lose some of their liquid.
Synereises, or crying, is the name for this.