Term 1 Blog Post 1: Five States of Matter - Could there be more?

When I first started learning science at primary 3, I truly believed that there were only 3 states of matter in the world, Solid, Liquid and Gas. I mean, I would think to myself again and again, what could possibly be another state? I asked around and then found out the fourth state – Plasma. It was then I exclaimed to myself, “OH YES! Like the weapons in shooting games.” So I thought that ended there; only four states of matter in the universe. When I was primary 6, while attending a course in RI, one of the questions in the test we were supposed to take was, “What is the fifth state of matter?” You would probably imagine the state of shock I was in. So as usual, I did some research, and realised the fifth state of matter is Bose-Einstein condensate. Now, I will briefly state the properties what is Solid, Liquid and Gas. For Plasma and Bose-Einstein condensate, both of which are still new to me, I will try to elaborate more. However, recently I have discovered something new, and I will tell you what that is at the later part of the post.

Solid:

- Fixed volume
- Fixed shape
- Usually hard and rigid
- A huge force is needed to change its shape
- High density
- Incompressible




Liquid:

- Fixed volume
- No fixed shape
- High density
- Incompressible




Gas:

- No fixed volume
- No fixed shape
- Low density
- Compressible


On a microscopic level, the arrangement and movement of the particles of these 3 different states are also different:

Solid:

- Particles are closely packed together, usually in a regular pattern, occupying minimum space.
(This results in solids having high densities)

- Particles vibrate about fixed positions only, and are held in position by very strong intermolecular bonds.
(This also explains why solids have fixed volumes and shapes, as they are closely packed)

Liquid:

-Particles are randomly arranged with the particles slightly further apart as compared to that of solids.
(This results in liquids having relatively high densities)

- Particles are free to move about but confined within the vessel containing it and also have attractive forces between them.
(This also explains why liquids have fixed volume but will take the shape of anything containing them)

Gas:

- Particles are very far apart and randomly arranged and will occupy any available space.
(This is also why gases have very low densities)

-Particles have very little attraction between them and move about randomly at a very high speed.
(This explains why gases have no fixed volume and shape and why they are higly compressible)


Plasma:

- No fixed shape
- No fixed volume
- Very high electrical conductivity
- Responds strongly to electromagnetive fields

So basically plasma is a substance similar to gas, just that a certain portion of the particles are ionized, in which means the total number of electrons is not equal to the total number of protons in a particle, which makes it have a negative electrical charge.

However, there are some differences between gas and plasma:

1. Electrical conductivity

Gas: Very low
Plasma: Very high

Air is an excellent insulator while in most cases for plasma, its electrical conductivity may be treated as infinite.

2. Interactions

Gas: Binary
Plasma: Collective

The particle collisions of gas are usually in pairs, with three-body collisions in very rare occasions. Whereas for plasma, the particles are in waves, allowing them to interact at long ranges through the electrical and magnetic force.

3. Independently acting species

Gas: One
Plasma: Two or three

For gas, its particles behave in a similar way, influenced by gravity and by collisions with one another. Plasma consists of electrons, ions, protons and neutrons, where they behave independently in many circumstances.


Some forms and uses of plasma:

Space and Astrophysical plasmas:

- The Sun
- Stars

Terrestrial Plasmas:

- Lightning
- Most flames
- The Polar Aurorae

Artificially produced Plasmas:

- Found in plasma displays, like plasma televisions
- Neon Signs
- Plasma globe
- Rocket exhausts

Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC):

So as I researched more about this fifth state of matter, I found out that the name is actually made up of two people, Satyendra Nath Bose and Albert Einstein. This is because this state of matter was first predicted by Bose and Einstein in 1924 - 1925. Bose first sent a paper to Einstein on the quantum statistics of photons, where Einstein was impressed, translated the paper himself from English to German and submitted it for Bose to be published. Einstein then extended Bose's ideas to matter in two other papers.

Basically, BEC is what happens to some things when they are made very, very cold. It forms when the particles that make up something all lie down using the littlest energy. Only special particles called bosons can BEC and they can only do this if they're very close to the coldest temperature allowed, near to 0 K (which is about −273 °C, or −459.67 °F); this is also called absolute zero. BEC is a type of change of state, like when water turns into ice. And like when water turns to ice, it gets slippery; things that have BEC have 0 viscosity. This means they are as slippery as possible.

All particles can only have a set amount of energy. They either have the energy to bounce around in gases or just the energy to flow like a liquid. If you take enough of the particle's energy away you get to the littlest amount of energy possible, which gives you BEC. This makes all of the particles exactly the same and instead of bouncing around randomly in all different directions, they all bounce up and down in exactly the same way, forming something called a 'giant matter wave', which is kind of interesting as compared to the other previous states of matter.

New discovery(for me):

So I guess that pretty much sums up the main properties of all the 5 states of matter. Or so I thought, till one day I came upon a website which stated that there were 7 states of matter! The other two states of matter that the website mentioned was Beam and Thought Waves. The difference between beam and the other four states is that the particles of solid, liquid, gas and plasma all move randomly in all directions whereas the particles of beam move harmoniously in one direction. The difference between beam and the other four states is that the particles of solid, liquid, gas and plasma all move randomly in all directions whereas the particles of beam move harmoniously in one direction.

It is stated in the website that, "Beam also differs from the other four states in terms of being non-thermal while the rest are thermal. The more energetic the vibrations of particles are, the more heat they would generate. But because the particles of beam are traveling in the same direction, they do not collide against each other to generate heat." Since friction is a cause of heat, then the result of particles colliding with each other would increase their vibration or kinetic energy. So when the particles of light (or beam) clashes with another matter (such as our hand), we feel heat. So I guess this website has a point on that beam is another state of matter.

For thought waves, the website stated, "Thought wave is the sixth state of matter. Thought wave exists at a higher energetic level than beam. Thought wave can move even faster than beam. It moves at the speed of infinity. It is at once here and at once there. Thought wave is local and nonlocal. " Now this is really questionable. From what I learnt in primary school, all matter has mass; thought waves definitely don't have mass. Well, that's from my knowledge, but I guess there are a lot of things I do not know after all.

Conclusion:

So that is as far as I have gotten so far. Seven states of matter, though I guess only 5 have been proven. Science is a journey, a long, learning journey where we constantly update our knowledge as new things are being discovered. I know for sure that by doing so, we can learn a lot more. Even then, it is always good to revise old things that we have learnt. Who knows, that in the future, new states of matter would be discovered, and if that day really comes, I will remember what I have learnt and written about today!