There Are 31 States Of Matter
Fact of the day: There are 31 states of matter.
In the next few posts I will be writing about basic physics, such as matter, energy, momentum, Newton's laws of motion, etc. I am going to start with matter.
What Is Matter?
Matter is the physical 'stuff' in the universe. The particles that make up matter are called fermions, and cannot occupy the same quantum state at any given time, as stated by the Pauli Exclusion Principle, and have half-intergeral spin.
These particles are:
• Quarks - the up quark, the down quark, the charm quark, the strange quark, the top quark, and the bottom quark. These particles make up hadrons, such as baryons (protons and neutrons) from three quarks, and make up mesons from two quarks.
• Leptons - the electron, the electron neutrino, the muon, the muon neutrino, the tau, and the tau neutrino. The neutrino particles are neutral (they have no electric charge) and very elusive, as they rarely come in contact with other matter, neutrinos can pass through a whole planet without coming in contact with anything else, and can simultaneously change between types, or flavours (yes that is the official term!) of neutrino particles. Neutrino particles are the second most abundant type of particle, after the photon, as masses were created in the Big Bang.
• Anti-Quarks and Anti-Leptons - Antimatter is exactly the same as matter, but has an opposite electric charge and different quantum values. When matter and antimatter come into contact they annihilate each other and produce a vast amount of energy.
• Dark Matter - We don't really know what dark matter is, but we know it is there because of the effect it has on its surroundings. It could be a very elusive form of matter that still has a large gravitational effect, or it could just be matter that is not reflecting or producing light.
States Of Matter
There are 31 states of matter overall. There are even four types of solid. The state of matter of an object is determined by the temperature, pressure, and specific heat capacity of the object. We may only experience solids, liquids and gasses (and maybe plasma) in our everyday lives. My personal favourite state of matter is a superfluid, which is a type of Bose-Einstein Condensate. When you cool helium to around 2 kelvins (or -271ºC) it turns into a superfluid, and no open container can hold it as it 'climbs' up the walls of its container. I will go into states of matter more in a future topic.
(Above) Superfluid Helium
(Below) What A Superfluid Does In A Container
Mass
Mass is an object's resistance to movement. So when you hear someone use the word 'massive' to refer to an objects size, that is not technically correct, as mass does not have to increase with size, as its density could decrease instead. Matter has mass. Gravity, one of the four fundamental forces, is a force that causes masses to attract, and the best explanation for this is general relativity.
Weight
Weight is the effect of gravity on a given mass. One kilogram on earth will weigh 160g on the moon, because the moon has less mass, therefore less gravity.
Density
Density is how much mass is in a given space. Pure lithium has a density of 0.535 g/cm , whereas osmium, the densest element, has a density of 22.59 g/cm .
Mass is equivalent to energy, they are the same thing is a different form. This is shown by Einstein's e=mc 2 (energy = mass x the speed of light squared).
Energy is what makes the universe run.
In the next few posts I will be writing about basic physics, such as matter, energy, momentum, Newton's laws of motion, etc. I am going to start with matter.
What Is Matter?
Matter is the physical 'stuff' in the universe. The particles that make up matter are called fermions, and cannot occupy the same quantum state at any given time, as stated by the Pauli Exclusion Principle, and have half-intergeral spin.
These particles are:
• Quarks - the up quark, the down quark, the charm quark, the strange quark, the top quark, and the bottom quark. These particles make up hadrons, such as baryons (protons and neutrons) from three quarks, and make up mesons from two quarks.
• Leptons - the electron, the electron neutrino, the muon, the muon neutrino, the tau, and the tau neutrino. The neutrino particles are neutral (they have no electric charge) and very elusive, as they rarely come in contact with other matter, neutrinos can pass through a whole planet without coming in contact with anything else, and can simultaneously change between types, or flavours (yes that is the official term!) of neutrino particles. Neutrino particles are the second most abundant type of particle, after the photon, as masses were created in the Big Bang.
• Anti-Quarks and Anti-Leptons - Antimatter is exactly the same as matter, but has an opposite electric charge and different quantum values. When matter and antimatter come into contact they annihilate each other and produce a vast amount of energy.
• Dark Matter - We don't really know what dark matter is, but we know it is there because of the effect it has on its surroundings. It could be a very elusive form of matter that still has a large gravitational effect, or it could just be matter that is not reflecting or producing light.
States Of Matter
There are 31 states of matter overall. There are even four types of solid. The state of matter of an object is determined by the temperature, pressure, and specific heat capacity of the object. We may only experience solids, liquids and gasses (and maybe plasma) in our everyday lives. My personal favourite state of matter is a superfluid, which is a type of Bose-Einstein Condensate. When you cool helium to around 2 kelvins (or -271ºC) it turns into a superfluid, and no open container can hold it as it 'climbs' up the walls of its container. I will go into states of matter more in a future topic.
(Above) Superfluid Helium
(Below) What A Superfluid Does In A Container
Mass
Mass is an object's resistance to movement. So when you hear someone use the word 'massive' to refer to an objects size, that is not technically correct, as mass does not have to increase with size, as its density could decrease instead. Matter has mass. Gravity, one of the four fundamental forces, is a force that causes masses to attract, and the best explanation for this is general relativity.
Weight
Weight is the effect of gravity on a given mass. One kilogram on earth will weigh 160g on the moon, because the moon has less mass, therefore less gravity.
Density
Density is how much mass is in a given space. Pure lithium has a density of 0.535 g/cm , whereas osmium, the densest element, has a density of 22.59 g/cm .
Mass is equivalent to energy, they are the same thing is a different form. This is shown by Einstein's e=mc 2 (energy = mass x the speed of light squared).
Energy is what makes the universe run.
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