  We study the collective behaviour of a close packed monolayer of non-Brownian
particles at a fluid-liquid interface. Such a particle raft forms a
two-dimensional elastic solid and can support anisotropic stresses and strains,
e.g. it buckles in uniaxial compression and cracks in tension. We characterise
this solid in terms of a Young's modulus and Poisson ratio derived from simple
theoretical considerations and show the validity of these estimates by using an
experimental buckling assay to deduce the Young's modulus.
