How many of you know States of matters is not three but they are five?
There are five states of matter in which three are very-well known to majority of us; Solids, Liquids and Gases. There is one more natural State of matter that is Plasma which occurs or most abundant at Stars. The fifth state of matter is man-made and it is know as Bose-Einstein Condensates. Now lets have a brief study of these five states of matter.
 |
The 5 states of matter (source: chem4kids)
|
Bose-Einstein Condensate:
 |
Newly formed Bose-Einstein condensates. |
- Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) was created by scientists in 1995.
- Using a combination of lasers and magnets, cooled a sample rubidium to within a few degrees of absolute zero.
- At this extremely low temperture, molecular motion almost comes to stops.
- Since, there is no kinetic energy being transferred from one atom to another, atoms begin to clump together.
- They are no longer thousands of separate atoms, just one "super atom."
- BEC is used to study Quantum Mechanics on a microscopic level. Light appears to slow down as it passes through BEC, allowing scientists to study the particle/wave paradox.
- BECs are also used to stimulate conditions that might exist in black holes.
- Its has the properties of superfluid or a fluid that flows without friction.
Solids:
 |
Closely Packed particles in solids.
|
- Solids have definite Shape, Volume(size) and Mass.
- Solids have high density, meaning particles are tightly packed.
- In solids, the particles are tightly packed together so they don't move much.
- Even though the particles are tightly packed, electrons of each atom are constantly in motion, so the particles have some (negligible) vibrations at room temperature.
- Because of this, particles in the solids have very little Kinetic Energy.
- These are Highly incompressible.
Liquids:
 |
Liquid state particles.
|
- Liquids doesn't have fixed Shave, They occupy the shape of the container stored.
- The particles in liquids are more loosely packed than in solids.
- Most of the liquids have less density compared to that of solids.
- Liquids have more kinetic energy than solids but very less than gases.
- They are also incredibly difficult to Compress.
Gases:
 |
Freely moving gas particles.
|
- Gases have indefinite shape, size.
- They have less density that of liquids.
- In a gas, have a great deal of space between them and have high kinetic energy.
- A gas has no definite shape or volume.
- If unconfined, the particles of a gas will spread out indefinitely; if confined, the particles of a gas will expand to fill its container.
- Gases are highly Compressible.
Plasma:
 |
Plasma state of particles.
|
- Plasma state is not a common state of matter on Earth.
- It is most common state of matter in the universe, according to Jefferson Laboratory.
- Stars are essentially super-heated balls of plasma.
- Due to extremely high temperature, atom looses its electrons and forms ions/nuclei. The mixture of electrons and Nuclei is called plasma.
- Plasma consists of highly charged particles with extremely high kinetic energy.
- The noble gases are often used to make glowing signs by using electricity to ionize them to plasma state.
I have explained the brief content of the five states of matter. I am going to write some detailed content on each state of matter.
Stay updated. Do subscribe and be the 1st one to read our posts :)