TFNR - States of Matter
Matter can exist in different fundamental forms: solid, liquid, gas, plasma (in different phases) and many other more intermediate or exotic states, existing under extreme conditions like extreme low temperature, extreme density, or extremely high energy.
The different states of matter are often due to a different interaction and organization of its components (essentially atoms and molecules). The number of interacting components can range from two to an extremely large number. The different organization produces the particular collective behaviors and new emerging properties that characterize the various states. The states of matter are therefore characterized by qualitatively different properties (volume, shape, relative positions, dynamics, internal relative motion, collective motion, electric charge, etc.), which lead to different phenomena.
Gradually new states of matter are identified and studied. So this list does not claim to be exhaustive. In any case, there is a lack of a fundamental state of matter, sought by all, of which we still do not have observational and experimental evidence, except for the gravitational effects on the dynamics of large cosmic structures, galaxies, clusters and super-clusters, and the suggestive phenomena that we call strong and weak gravitational lenses. We are obviously talking about Dark Matter, and its complement, Dark Energy.
- Fundamental states
- Solid
- Liquid
- Gas
- Plasma
- Phase transitions
- Melting / Freezing
- Vaporization / Condensation
- Ionization / Deionization
- Sublimation / Deposition
- Non-classical states
- Glass
- Crystals with some degree of disorder
- Liquid crystal states
- Magnetically ordered
- Microphase-separated
- Low-temperature states
- Superconductor
- Superfluid
- Bose–Einstein condensate
- Fermionic condensate
- Rydberg molecule
- Quantum Hall state
- Photonic matter
- Dropleton
- High-energy states
- Degenerate matter
- Quark matter
- Color-glass condensate
- Very high energy states
- Hidden states of matter
- Photoinduced states
- Hypothetical states
- Supersolid
- String-net liquid
- Superglass
Links to the tables of contents of TFNR Paper
