Understanding Matter: Exploring the States of Matter

All About Matter

What is Matter?

Matter can be described as anything that has mass and occupies space.

Classification of Matter:

Matter can be classified into substances that are both available on Earth and substances that are in space (the Galaxy & Beyond)

Space

In space, a total of 17 states of matter exists. Examples are: Super-fluid, quantum hall state,  quark-gluon plasma, etc. 

On earth

On earth, there are many states of matter that are very rare in nature, and we barely see, use or maybe not even know about them. One of which is Plasma, the 4^th state of matter.  It is naturally found in lightning. While the other state of matter is Bose Einstein Condensate – founded by Satyendra Bose and Albert Einstein. While unlike plasma it cannot be found in nature and only can be made in labs under special conditions. There are also objects that we use on a day-to-day basis – which are solids, liquids and gases. 

Characteristics of states of matter

There are an astonishing 22 states of matter (including solids, liquids, gases, plasma and quark-gluon plasma) and each of them have a molecule. A molecule contains 2 atoms. Inside an atom is a neutron, proton and an electron.  Atoms are tiny particles that are present in every substance. Solids, liquids, gases, etc. have molecules – but differ in their characteristics.

• Solid – The atoms are tightly packed, and they cannot move freely.
• Liquid - The atoms are loosely packed
• Gases - The atoms are very free.
• Plasma - The atoms are extremely free.  
• Bec - The atoms are extremely tightly packed, and also they cannot move freely.

 Classification of matter

All About Atoms

Division of atoms

Atoms are further divided into particles called “subatomic particles.” Subatomic particles include electrons, neutrons, and protons.  The neutron and proton are in the nucleus, while the electrons rotate around the atom. The nucleus is the core of every atom.

Classification of an atom

Subatomic particles

 A neutron has no charge, a proton has positive charge and lastly an electron has negative charge.

Reason: Neutrons and protons have quarks. Each quark has a charge.  There are 2 types of quarks. They include up quarks and down quarks. An up quark has a charge of 2/3 and a hdown quark has a charge of 1/3. In a proton there are two up quarks and a down quark. So, the formula is {2 / 3 + 2 / 3 – 1 /3 = 1 +} as shown, the answer is 1 (positive) and hence a proton is positive (+).  A neutron has two down quarks and one up quark. Hence, the formula is {1/3) +1/3–2/3= 0 }0 which is neutral because it is neither positive nor negative. While Electrons are negative because of the way they behave in an electric field. In an electric field, an electron will travel from the negative pole to the positive, resulting in a negative charge.

Trivia facts:

1) The periodic table is a table that represents all atoms also known as elements. In total there are 118 elements. Each has a different number of electrons, neutrons, and protons.

2) Quarks are the smallest particles of the universe.

3) A positive charge gets attracted to a negative charge, but a positive charge repels another positive charge. Same thing happens with a negative charge.

All About Solids

What is a solid?

A solid is a state of matter which has a fixed shape, mass, and volume. This means that solids maintain their shape unless subjected to an external force, and the other one is: one cannot alter a solid’s volume.

Classification of solids

Solids are classified into

Opaque: Some objects are opaque meaning they let absolutely no light through. Opaque is classified into Fibres (e.g. Jute), Lightweight (e.g. Styrofoam), Heavy (e.g. Rocks and granite) and lastly Elastic (e.g. Rubber)

Translucent:  Some objects are Translucent meaning they let only a little light through. For example, glass, tissue and paper are translucent.

Transparent: Some objects are transparent, meaning they let light through. For example, Glass is transparent. Transparent is classified into Crystals (e.g. Diamond)

Classification of solids 

Trivia fact: 

Graphene aerogel is the lightest solid. It is a type of solid made from a gel that is very light. It is a layer full of carbon atoms. It is the lightest solid because carbon, which is a gas, when turned into solid leaves a lot of gaps between atoms. This makes it 7 times lighter than air.

 

All About Liquids

What is a Liquid

Liquid is a state of matter that is described by its capacity to flow and take the shape of its container. Unlike solids, which are tightly packed, liquid particles are somewhat close together but can move past one another, allowing liquids to flow.

Properties of liquids

Liquids have a definite volume but no fixed shape. Which means that one cannot change its volume while it also adapts to the shape of its container. the main distinguishing feature of liquids is their capacity to flow. Since liquid particles can move past one other, they can easily change shape and flow from one location to another.

Liquids also come in different thicknesses, like how honey is thicker than water. We call this thickness "viscosity." If a liquid is thick and flows slowly, we call it viscous. Think of pouring water from a glass vs pouring honey from a jar. Honey flows much slower because it's more viscous. Water, on the other hand, flows more freely as it's less viscous. Hence, viscosity basically tells us how easily a liquid flows.

Comparison between water and honey

 

 

 

Trivia fact: As soon as you think of a metal, we imagine extremely hard solids that are nearly unbreakable. However, the metal mercury (Hg) is a liquid at room temperatures! It is a shiny and metallic looking liquid that is mostly found in thermometers.

 All About Gas

Definition of Gas

A gas is a substance that is in a gaseous or vaporous, state of matter. Gas is one of the four natural states of matter, along with liquid, solid and plasma. The term gas is also used in reference to the state itself when applied to matter that has the properties of a gaseous substance.

Properties of gases

 A gas has no fixed shape or volume. Meaning that it takes up the shape of a container and it can expand and contract.

Classification of Gas

Gas is Classified into:

•  Elemental gas: Elemental gases are gas that contain the same types of elements. E.g.: oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen
•  Pure gas: Pure gas has only 1 atom. Neon gas is one such example.
•  Compound gas: They are made of a variety of different types of atoms. Carbon dioxide is one such example.
•  Noble gas: Noble gases are very stable and rarely react with other elements. E.g.: Helium, Xenon, Argon, Radon, Krypton, and Oganesson

Classification of gases

Trivia fact: 

Despite its name being “laughing gas” (N20 or Nitrous oxide), it doesn’t cause laughter. Instead, when inhaled it makes your brain happy in just 3 minutes!

 

The 4^th State of matter

What is Plasma

Plasma stands out distinctly from other states of matter. It is a state of matter that has negative and positive ions.

Plasma Vs other States of Matter

Plasma is seldom found on Earth and primarily found in laboratories. However, delving deeper reveals another fascinating aspect. One can create plasma if they have access to a chemical called rubidium, a solid material utilized in vacuum tubes. It is a long process, though!

 

So here are the steps to create PLASMA:

1.     Rubidium (solid) changes to liquid state, this process is called melting.

2.     The liquid then changes to gas; this process is called evaporation.

3.     Finally, gas changes to plasma, this process is called ionization.

Melting, evaporation and ionization are all synonyms of heating! (to know more go to Trivia question, To access the info given please press or control click the link given : trivia question )

How to create plasma using rubidium 

Let’s understand why heating helps change the state of matter

Heating expands the distance between atoms. Hence, densely packed solids transform into liquids when heated. Loosely packed liquids convert to gas, which in turn converts to plasma. Plasma is extremely loosely packed.

Trivia question: 

How does gas turn into plasma though it has no charge while on the other hand, plasma has both negative and positive ions?

Well as shown above, gas has to get heated to turn into plasma. Normally, the processes, solid to liquid and liquid to gas creates more and more distance. While on the other hand, gas turns into plasma at massive 13,000 degrees Celsius. Which is about 130 times more than when you boil food on your stove! This causes atoms to either gain or lose electrons, resulting in the making of ions.

 The 5^th State of Matter

What is Bose Einstein Condensate

Bose Einstein condensate (also known as BEC) stands out distinctly from other states of matter. It is a state of matter that is found in temperatures below negative 0 kelvin. (to know more go to the end of this blog, To access the info given please press the link given.: Trivia fact)

An image of BEC

 

BEC is seldom found on Earth and primarily found in laboratories. However, delving deeper reveals another fascinating aspect. One can create Bose Einstein Condensate if they have access to a chemical called rubidium, a solid material utilized in vacuum tubes.

So here are the steps to create BEC:

Rubidium (solid) changes to Bose Einstein condensate via the method of cooling at −273.15 °C temperature. 

How to create BEC using rubidium 

Let’s understand why cooling helps change the state of matter

Cooling lessens the distance between atoms. Hence, solids which are tightly packed, converts to BEC. 

Trivia fact: 0 kelvin is up to −273.15 °C. To compare with water freezes at 0°C, while the average room temperature is up to 20 - 30 °C.

Others

Quark-gluon plasma

Quark-gluon plasma is the most complex of the states of matter. It is found in a neutron star, and it is sort of a mixture of neutrons and quarks. Let's understand this. When a star gets crushed because of its own gravity, the electrons crash into protons creating neutrons. While sometimes quarks inside the neutrons also go away from each other forming quark-gluon plasma, in a neutron star 25% of the neutrons split into quarks. But that is not it! The quarks sometimes smash into each other too forming strange quarks. This means quark-gluon plasma is made of a mixture of: neutrons, up quarks, down quarks and strange quarks. 

Reference credit: DISCOVER SCIENCE