3. States Of Matter

In physics, a state of matter is one of the distinct forms in which matter can exist. Historically, the distinction is made based on qualitative difference in properties such as volume and shapes.In classical physics and general chemistry, matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. The matter can exist in several different forms, or states of aggregation, known as phases, depending on ambient pressure, temperature and volume.

The state of matter affects a substance's properties such as density, viscosity, malleability and conductivity. Matter is the substance which have mass. More specifically, they must have rest mass, which is a form of energy that matter has even when it is not moving (it has no kinetic energy), is extremely cold (it has no thermal energy), etc.

Ordinary matter is made of tiny particles called atoms. The atoms have spaces between them and they move or vibrate all the time. The particles move faster and move further apart when heated, and the reverse when cooled. In our everyday life, there are four states of matter can be observable and they are the fundamental states of matter and they are solid, liquid, gas and plasma. Many intermediate states are known to be exist such as liquid crystal and some other states of matter are exist only under extreme conditions such as Bose-Einstein condensate, quark-gluon plasma which only occur under the situations of extreme cold or hot temperatures or extreme density and extreme high energy.

The term “Phase” is sometimes used as a synonym for state of matter. A state of matter is also characterized by phase transitions. A phase transition indicates a change in structure and can be recognized by an abrupt change in properties. A distinct state of matter can be defined as any set of states distinguished from any other set of states by a phase transition. The state or phase of a given set of matter can change depending on pressure and temperature conditions, transitioning to other phases as these conditions change to favor their existence.