metastable

American  

[met-uh-stey-buhl, met-uh-stey-] / ˈmɛt əˌsteɪ bəl, ˌmɛt əˈsteɪ- /

adjective

1. Metallurgy.  chemically unstable in the absence of certain conditions that would induce stability, but not liable to spontaneous transformation.

2. Physics, Chemistry.  Also pertaining to a body or system existing at an energy level metastable state above that of a more stable state and requiring the addition of a small amount of energy to induce a transition to the more stable state.

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metastable British  

/ ˌmɛtəˈsteɪbəl /

adjective

1. (of a body or system) having a state of apparent equilibrium although capable of changing to a more stable state

2. (of an atom, molecule, ion, or atomic nucleus) existing in an excited state with a relatively long lifetime

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noun

1. a metastable atom, ion, molecule, or nucleus

Other Word Forms

• metastability noun

Etymology

Origin of metastable

First recorded in 1895–1900; meta- + stable ²

Example Sentences

"The breakthrough that we have is that we are actually stabilizing a metastable structure that has not been reported," Oh said.

From Science Daily

Li ions move to the nearest Li position always passing through metastable positions.

From Science Daily

Analogously, isolated social states such as the former country of East Germany can persist in a metastable state for decades until the isolating boundaries are breached by outside influences.

From Science Daily

Inspired by this phenomenon, the researchers developed a superior supramolecular machine capable to efficiently convert widely used synthetic photoswitchable molecules -- azobenzenes -- from the stable to the metastable conformation with almost any wavelength of visible light.

From Science Daily

In a recent experiment, this same group of researchers discovered a far more efficient way to create a previously observed metastable, superconducting-like state in K3C60 using laser light.

From Science Daily