The responses to shear of monomolecular films of stearyl alcohol (${\mathrm{C}}_{18}$${\mathrm{H}}_{37}$OH) and nonadecanoic acid (${\mathrm{C}}_{18}$${\mathrm{H}}_{37}$COOH) spread on water were studied as a function of density. A static shear modulus appears at a phase transition, previously assigned as the liquid-solid transition. The value of the modulus, however, is several orders of magnitude lower than the Kosterlitz-Thouless prediction.

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