9 STATES OF MATTER

9 STATES OF MATTER

By Suhail Ansari

-       Batch(2k17), Deptt. of Chemical Engg.

-       BIT Sindri, Dhanbad

States of matter. There are several states of matter but we hardly knew only 3-4 states i.e. Solid, Liquid, Gas and more on Plasma.

But what about the other states of matter?

Let’s gain some knowledge about the rest states of matter namely:

1. BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATE

2. QUARK-GLUON PLASMA (QGP)

3. QUANTUM LIQUID SPIN

4. DEGENERATE STATE

5. SUPERIONIC ICE

SOLID

 

Solid is one of the three main states of matter, along with liquid and gas.

In a Solid, particles are packed tightly together so they don't move much. The electrons of each atom are constantly in motion, so the atoms have a small vibration, but they are fixed in their position. Because of this, particles in a solid have very low kinetic energy.

Solids have a definite shape, as well as mass and volume, and do not conform to the shape of the container in which they are placed. Solids also have a high density, meaning that the particles are tightly packed together. 

Solids are generally divided into three broad classes—crystalline, noncrystalline (amorphous), and quasicrystalline. 

LIQUID

The liquid state of matter is an intermediate phase between solid and gas. Like the particles of a solid, particles in a liquid are subject to intermolecular attraction; however, liquid particles have more space between them, so they are not fixed in position. The attraction between the particles in a liquid keeps the volume of the liquid constant. Liquids consist of atoms or molecules that are connected by intermolecular bonds.

 

GAS

A gas is defined as a state of matter consisting of particles that have neither a defined volume nor defined shape. Gases are the phase of matter in which particles are usually very far apart from one another, move very quickly, and aren't particularly attracted to one another. Because the molecules in a gas are so far apart from one another, gases are much less dense than liquids or solids.

 PLASMA

Plasma is defined as a state of matter predominantly comprised of ions and electrons. An ion is formed when an atom or molecule gains or loses electrons, yielding an overall charge (either positive or negative). The presence of charged ions means that a plasma is highly electrically conductive and responds strongly to magnetic and electric fields. Its behaviour is most comparable to that of a gas, as the plasma has no defined volume but instead assumes the volume of the container it is in. Despite all of the constituent particles being charged, typically the plasma itself has no overall charge. However, some plasmas (non-neutral) can be created with an overall charge (either positive or negative) and are composed of pure electron, ion, positron, or antiproton plasmas.

Plasma consists of highly charged particles with extremely high kinetic energy. The noble gases (helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon and radon) are often used to make glowing signs by using electricity to ionize them to the plasma state.

 

BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATE

Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) - the existence of which was predicted by Albert Einstein and Indian mathematician Satyendra Nath Bose almost a century ago - are formed when atoms of certain elements are cooled to near absolute zero (0 Kelvin, minus 273.15 Celsius).

At this point, the atoms become a single entity with quantum properties, wherein each particle also functions as a wave of matter. BECs straddle the line between the macroscopic world governed by forces such as gravity and the microscopic plane, ruled by quantum mechanics.

This state exists by cooling a sample of rubidium to within a few degrees of absolute zero. At this extremely low temperature, molecular motion comes very close to stopping. Since there is almost no kinetic energy being transferred from one atom to another, the atoms begin to clump together. There are no longer thousands of separate atoms, just one "super atom." 

Light appears to slow down as it passes through a BEC, allowing scientists to study the particle/wave paradox. A BEC also has many of the properties of a superfluid, or a fluid that flows without friction. BECs are also used to simulate conditions that might exist in black holes.

 

QUARK-GLUON PLASMA (QGP)

For a few millionths of a second after the Big Bang, the universe consisted of a hot soup of elementary particles called quarks and gluons. A few microseconds later, those particles began cooling to form protons and neutrons, the building blocks of matter. The only place in the universe where QGP exists is inside high-speed accelerators, for the briefest flashes of time.

Systems consisting of deconfined quarks and gluons, the fundamental constituents of matter and the mediators of the strong force, are produced in controlled laboratory conditions in reactions of heavy nuclei at ultra-relativistic energies. These so-called “the quark-gluon plasmas” (QGP) exist at very high temperatures and energy densities similar to those found a few microseconds after the Big Bang. The quest to discover and characterize the properties of this new state of matter via ultra-relativistic collisions of large nuclei is an active research thrust at many experimental facilities such as the Bevalac, the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS), the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

Scientists creating QGP by smashing gold atoms together at nearly the speed of light. These collisions can produce temperatures up to 4 trillion degrees — 250,000 times warmer than the sun’s interior and hot enough to melt protons and neutrons into quarks and gluons.

The resulting super-hot, super-dense blob of matter, about a trillionth of a centimeter across, could give scientists new insights into the properties of the very early universe. So far, they have already made the surprising discovery that QGP is a nearly frictionless liquid.

 

QUANTUM LIQUID SPIN

Spin liquids are quantum phases of matter that exhibit a variety of novel features associated with their topological character. These include various forms of fractionalization - elementary excitations that behave as fractions of an electron. While there is not yet entirely convincing experimental evidence that any particular material has a spin liquid ground state, in the past few years, increasing evidence has accumulated for a number of materials suggesting that they have characteristics strongly reminiscent of those expected for a quantum spin liquid.

Quantum spin liquids are frequently found in a class of materials known as frustrated magnets. In a conventional magnet, the interactions between spins result in stable formations, known as their long-range order, in which the magnetic directions of each individual electron is aligned.

In a frustrated magnet, the arrangement of electron spins prevents them from forming an ordered alignment, and so they collapse into a fluctuating, liquid-like state. In a true quantum spin liquid, the electron spins never align, and continue to fluctuate even at the very lowest temperatures of absolute zero, at which the spins in other magnetic states of matter would have already frozen.

The conditions required for a quantum spin liquid to form are often found in nature. The most famous example is the copper-based mineral Herbertsmithite, for which there is significant evidence to suggest that a quantum spin liquid state exists within the frustrated magnetic layers of copper ions that make up its structure.

In experiments using neutron spectroscopy, the team revealed that α-RuCl₃ realises something extremely close to a special flavour of quantum spin liquid called a Kitaev spin-liquid. A prerequisite for this particular quantum spin liquid state is that the spins of the magnetic ruthenium ions form a frustrated honeycomb network: a layered, two-dimensional hexagonal structure, similar to that assumed by carbon atoms in graphite.

 

DEGENERATE STATE

Under extreme pressures, such as those that occur within the nucleus of some stars, the particles are compressed into a minimum space. Since two particles cannot occupy the same space at the same moment, this causes the atoms to degenerate and lose their structure: the electrons leave their orbits and begin to move at speeds closer and closer to that of light, exerting an expansive force that compensates for the external pressure.

If this continues to increase and exceeds the so-called Chandrasekar limit, then the external pressure becomes untenable and the atomic nuclei also degenerate, losing their structure, collapsing into an accumulation of neutrons and protons.

SUPERIONIC ICE

Scientists first predicted in 1988 that water would transition to an exotic state of matter characterized by the coexistence of a solid lattice of oxygen and liquid-like hydrogen - a phase called superionic ice – when subjected to the extreme pressures and temperatures that exist in the interiors of water-rich giant planets like Uranus and Neptune.

Using laser-driven shockwaves to flash-freeze water into its exotic superionic phase and in-situ x-ray diffraction, they observed the nucleation of a crystalline lattice of oxygens in a few billionths of a second, revealing for the first time the microscopic structure of superionic ice.

Water as a beginning and as an end. Water is the only substance present in nature in the three classical states, and it is also the substance in which, at the beginning of 2018, a new form or state of arrangement was discovered: superionic ice. To achieve this, ice crystals were subjected to a pressure 2 million times higher than atmospheric pressure and at a temperature close to 5,000°C. That brutal pressure forces the ice to adopt a very compact packing, but, at the same time, the high temperature dissolves the bonds of the water molecule. The result is that in superionic ice two phases coexist: one liquid and one solid. Oxygen atoms adopt a crystalline structure, through which hydrogen nuclei flow.

 

FACTS TO KNOW…

WHERE DOES MATTER COME FROM?

All matter in the Universe was created by the Big Bang, 14 billion years ago. In less than a second, the Universe was filled with vast amounts of energy, such as light and heat. The explosion made the Universe expand. As it expanded, it cooled, and particles with mass formed and clumped together.

BIG BANG

The Universe is still expanding and cooling today. As it cools, the force of gravity draws floating particles of matter together to form new stars and galaxies.

 

 

 

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