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The four states of matter

Updated: 8/9/2023
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13y ago

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The four states of matter are Solid, Liquid, Gas and Plasma.

The state of matter of a substance depends on its temperature and pressure. Three of these states of matter are things you talk about or experience every day, but the plasma state occurs at very high temperatures, as are found in lighting strikes; and in stellar environments.

Our Sun, like all stars, is mostly composed of a hot dense plasma.

Our Sun fills our solar system with the solar wind, a weak, thin plasma.

*There is a unique "fifth state" that not all matter can exist in : Bose-Einstein condensates, in which extraordinarily supercooled dilute gas takes on unique properties due to quantum effects.

*There are also various indeterminate states, such as amorphous solids, liquid crystals, and superfluids, whose properties do not necessarily reflect their apparent physical state.

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7y ago
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14y ago

Solids, liquids and gases are the three states of matter.

AND PLASMA


Bose-Ein and filament can also be classed as states of matter making a total of 6

& the seventh is thought waves

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15y ago

There are currently 5 states of matter, namely solid, liquid, gas, plasma and Bose-Einstein condensates.

Solids are basically objects, such as a rocks and humans. They have a definite volume and shape. They cannot be compressed as the molecules in a solid are very closely packed due to strong intermolecular forces that bonds the molecules together. They expand when heated and contract when cooled. When heated, the molecules vibrate the more and more vigorously in their places when the temperature increases. Liquids are water-like matter, such as seawater and paint. They have a definite volume, however have no definite shape, as the intermolecular forces are not as strong as those in solids to bond the molecules together. Hence, the molecules will move around the container when tilted to reach a horizontal level (plane). They can be compressed, however only to a small extent. They expand when cooled (ice in solid state) and contract when heated (water vapour in gaseous state). The molecules will then become compacted or move further apart when in the respective states. The molecules will lose energy when steam condenses to water. Gas is basically the air. The air is usually made up different kinds of gases, such as oxygen and carbon dioxide. However, they all share common characterisics. Gases do not have a definite volume and shape, thus able to fill up anything, such as the atmosphere. They can be compressed as the intermolecular forces are weak. The gas molecules are spaced far apart, and they move in a continuous and random motion. Their speed varies according to the temperature and the number of atoms. The higher the temperature or the less the atoms, the faster they move. They bounce away from any other molecules (gas, dust or smoke), thus have no fixed motion. This is called the Brownian Motion. Diffusion is greatly present, where the molecules will diffuse in the air till it reaches a state of equilibrium. Gas also expands greatly when heated and contracts greatly when cooled.

Plasma is the superheated phase where electrons get torn from the atom (ionization). It is the rarest phase of matter on Earth although it is the most common in the universe. They can be natural (lightning and the Sun) or man-made (fluorescent light tubes). Examples of Bose-Einstein Condensates are superconductors and superfluids. These are materials that are cooled till they almost reach absolute zero (0 K, -273.15 ­°C). Superconductors are materials (solids) that have no resistance to the flow of electricity, such as superconducting metals, alloys and compounds (alloy of Niobium and Titanium). They are extremely cooled they can repel a magnetic field. Superfluids are liquid gas, as water would be frozen by then, that have strange behaviours. Liquid helium, for example, is cooled till it can actually "creep" on the walls of a smaller container placed inside a larger container to enter and then form its own horizontal level, unlike the previously-mentioned characteristic of liquids! Superfluids are also able to trap light and slow its moving speed down, which is a great breakthrough. This topic has, however, not much data and we are not able to talk much about it currently.

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13y ago

Solid: keeps its shape.

Liquid: conforms to the shape of its container, but does not change its volume.

Gas: conforms in both shape and volume to its container; atoms or molecules move independently of each other.

Plasma: at a high temperature, atoms are ionized, and electrons have escaped the attraction of atomic nuclei, forming a glowing cloud.

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13y ago

The four states of matter are solid, liquid, gas, and plasma.

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11y ago

There 6 states of matter: Solid, liquid, gas, plasma, bose-einstein condensate and a Colloid.

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12y ago

The four states of matter are:

1. Solid

2. Liquid

3. Gas

4. Plasma

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15y ago

the four most commonly used states of matter are liguids, gases, solids and plasma.

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11y ago

Solid, gaseous, liquid, and plasma

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8y ago

liquid,solid,gas,and plasma

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Related questions

How are the four states of matter related?

The four states of matter are related by energy concentration.


Matter comes in four states?

Matter does come in four states. The states are plasma, gas, liquid, and solid.


What are he four states of matter?

The four states of matter have traditionally been gas, liquid, solid, and plasma.


What are the two examples for each of the four states of matter?

state two examples for each of the four states of matter


What are the four states of matter that categorize an element?

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Why do the states of matter differ?

because they are the four forms or states that matter can be in


Are the a 5th kind of matter?

That depends how you choose to classify the "first four" kinds of matter. If you mean states of matter, also known as phases of matter, you can check the corresponding Wikipedia article - there you will see descriptions, not of three or four, but of at least 15 different states of matter.


The four states of matter are solid liquid gaseous and what?

Plasma


What do states of matter refer to in Physics?

The states of matter in Physics refer to the forms that phases of matter take on. If you took science in school, you may remember that the four states of matter are solid, liquid, gas and plasma.


The physical forms of matter which are solid liquid gas and plasma?

Solids, liquids, gases, and plasmas are the four states of matter. That means that they're the four physical states a substance can take.


What are the four states of matter and properties they all share?

Well the four states of matter are: Liquid, Solid, Gas and Plasma (the first 3 states are the main ones) and they all occupy space, they can all have colours and obviously they're all matter, in different forms.


How any states of matter are there?

There are (believe it or not) four states of matter. They are solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. However, since plasma is rarely found on Earth, it is not considered matter.