Wednesday, September 17, 2008

WHATS N E W ?????

Hi people in the world.... it's been how many days since i haven't discuss any lessons here...
but anyway i just want you to know that as of this new world of technologies and inventions new discoveries were found.

Before hand there are only three phases of matter as solid , liquid and gas.... then lately there are four including the plasma... and NOW we have the fifth one, the BOSE EINSTEIN CONDENSATE.

Could you imagine that because of the latest technologies we discover a lot of things in this world.

A state of matter is a class of materials, usually solid, liquid, and gas. Plasma, Quark-gluon plasma, Bose-Einstein condensate and fermionic condensate are other less commonly known states of matter. Also, scientists are now trying to see if Dark Matter is another state. A state of matter is also referred to as a physical state and often erroneously described as a phase. There is a classic general science description of each of the phases: A solid is a material that maintains its shape and its volume; a liquid maintains its volume but takes on the shape of its container; A gas takes on both the shape and volume of its container. Bose-Einstein condensate and fermionic condensate are currently achievable at near absolute zero temperatures in laboratory settings. Both kinds of plasma are achieved at very high temperatures, and behave similarly to gases. Quark-gluon plasmas exist at such high temperatures and pressures that they are unlikely to exist outside of laboratory conditions since shortly after the Big Bang.

THE FIVE PHASES OF MATTER

1. Solid

A solid has a stable, definite shape, and a definite volume. In a solid, the particles are packed closely together, they cannot move freely, they can only vibrate. The movement energy and temperature are very low. Solids can only change their shape by force, as when broken or cut.

2. Liquid

The shape of a liquid is not definite, but is determined by the container in which it is contained. The volume is definite. In a liquid, the particles are farther apart, and they can slide past each other easily. The movements due to energy and temperature are higher than in a solid.

3. Gas

A gas has an indefinite, unstable shape. It does not have definite shape and has no definite volume. Its volume is determined by the container in which it is confined. The particles of a gas are far apart from each other, and can move around quickly. The energy and temperature due to movement are higher than those of both solids and liquids.

4. Plasma

Plasma is the fourth state of matter. It is hotter than a gas.[citation needed] A plasma occurs when the temperature is between 1000 degrees C and 1,000,000,000 degrees C.[citation needed] Some examples of plasma are the charged air around lightning and stars, including our own sun.[citation needed]

As a gas is heated, electrons begin to leave the atoms, resulting in the presence of free electrons, which are not bound to an atom or molecule, and ions, which are chemical species that contain unequal number of electrons and protons, and therefore possess an electrical charge. The free electric charges make the plasma electrically conductive so that it responds strongly to electromagnetic fields. At very high temperatures, such as those present in stars, it is assumed that essentially all electrons are "free," and that a very high-energy plasma is essentially bare nuclei swimming in a sea of electrons. Plasma is believed to be the most common state of matter in the universe.

5. Bose-Einstein condensate

In 1924, Albert Einstein and Satyendra Bose predicted the "Bose-Einstein condensate," the fifth state of matter. An example is helium-4 close to absolute zero in the superfluid state, in which it will attempt to 'climb' out of its container.[1]

In the gas phase, the Bose-Einstein condensate remained an unverified theoretical prediction for many years. Finally in 1995, Wolfgang Ketterle and his team of graduate students produced such a condensate experimentally. A Bose-Einstein condensate is "colder" than a solid. It occurs when atoms have very similar (or the same) quantum levels. Temperatures close to absolute zero (-273 °C) will exhibit the Bose-Einstein condensate.

ANALYSIS

1. Is the fifth phase of matter relevant to our lives?
2. How this fifth phase of matter affect the mind of lay people?
3. What would be the greatest contribution of the fifth phase matter to the world of science, technology and society as well?





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