phases of matter

Cultural  

1. The states in which matter can exist: as a solid, liquid, or gas. When temperature changes, matter can undergo a phase change, shifting from one form to another. Examples of phase changes are melting (changing from a solid to a liquid), freezing (changing from a liquid to a solid), evaporation (changing from a liquid to a gas), and condensation (changing from a gas to a liquid). (See boiling point, condensation point, freezing point, melting point, triple point, and vaporization.)

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Example Sentences

"By controlling these dipolar interactions, we hope to create new quantum states and phases of matter," said co-author and Columbia postdoc Ian Stevenson.

From Science Daily • Jun. 3, 2024

Most quantum phases of matter reveal their special properties only at cryogenic temperatures or other extreme conditions and revert to being very ordinary when they are exposed to the world outside the lab.

From Scientific American • Mar. 9, 2022

However, it does occur in exotic phases of matter known as topological quantum matter, for quantum-mechanical electronic waves.

From Nature • Jul. 31, 2018

We can understand the phases of matter and what constitutes a fluid by considering the forces between atoms that make up matter in the three phases.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

Porthos spoke these words with that heroic nature, which, with him, grew greater with all the phases of matter.

From The Vicomte de Bragelonne Or Ten Years Later being the completion of "The Three Musketeers" And "Twenty Years After" by Dumas père, Alexandre