Pure physics: seven states of matter (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, April 23, 2022, 19:20 (943 days ago)

At the particle level:

https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/7-states-of-matter/?utm_source=mailchimp&ut...

"Most of us, on Earth, have a familiarity with three phases of matter: solids, liquids and gases. But at higher temperatures, the atoms making up matter ionize, creating a plasma, and at really high temperatures, individual protons and neutrons break down into a quark-gluon plasma. Meanwhile, at very low temperatures, the different types of particles form either Bose-Einstein or Fermionic condensates. All told, there are 7 known states of matter, not merely three.

"If you bombard any atom with enough energy, you’ll kick the electrons off of it, creating an ionized plasma: the fourth state of matter. Turn up the energy high enough, and even protons and neutrons will disintegrate, forming a quark-gluon plasma: arguably the fifth state of matter.

"But there are two additional states of matter that not only can exist but do: Bose-Einstein Condensates and Fermionic Condensates, the sixth and seventh states of matter. At present, they’re only achievable under extreme laboratory conditions, but they might play an important role in the Universe itself.

***

"In addition to the three standard states of matter — solid, liquid, and gas — there are higher-energy states of an ionized plasma, arising wherever atoms and molecules have too few electrons to be electrically neutral, and then of a quark-gluon plasma, where even protons and neutrons are broken up into their fundamental subatomic constituents. However, at ultra-low temperatures, the two fundamental classes of particles, bosons and fermions, can each condense together in their own particular fashion, creating Bose-Einstein or Fermionic condensates, respectively: the sixth and seventh states of matter.

"In order to create a Fermionic condensate out of matter, however, you have to achieve extraordinary conditions: temperatures below 50 nanokelvin with an applied time-varying magnetic field. However, in the vast abyss of space, it’s eminently possible that neutrinos (made of fermions) or dark matter (which could be fermions or bosons) clump together to form their own condensates. The key to solving one of the greatest mysteries of the Universe — the dark matter puzzle — might lie in the rarest and most extreme of all the known states of matter."

Comment: I have skipped over all the studies of particles to give you conclusive findings. God gave us a very complex Quantum basis for our reality. He has His reasons andv perhaps we can pick them apart to reach a level of understanding. So far, i accept what God did as His method of creation, by starting a level of creation and then evolving it into a final product: Big Bang to universe, universe to Earth, Earth to life, and life to Humans. Pure indisputable history. Note no comment on God's reasoning, which is totally unknown and unknowable.