This method is most often used on soft gels.

Iota forms soft gels in the presence of calcium ions.

Dow Corning countered with a soft new gel of its own in a silicone rubber envelope.

If gel formation is too strong, syneresis or a granular texture are the result, whilst weak gelling leads to excessively soft gels.

Ocuvite Complete (60 two-a-day soft gels, £14.95; www.bausch.co.uk)

Certain other polymers, with loose crosslinked molecular networks, can, in even tinier amounts, convert water to a soft sticky gel that is hardly lubricating at all.

In fiber optics communications, a soft gel resembling "hair gel" in viscosity is used to fill the plastic tubes containing the fibers.

The coagulant mixture is dissolved into water, and the solution is then stirred into boiled soy milk until the mixture curdles into a soft gel.

In Australia and New Zealand, the company is engaged in manufacturing and supply of soft gels and value-added manufacturing.

It is highly water-absorbent, forming a soft gel when hydrated, used in such applications as polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and in manufacturing soft contact lenses.