metastable

[ met-uh-stey-buhl, met-uh-stey- ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

adjective

Metallurgy. chemically unstable in the absence of certain conditions that would induce stability, but not liable to spontaneous transformation.
Also Physics, Chemistry. pertaining to a body or system existing at an energy level metastable 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.

metastable

/ ˌmɛtəˈsteɪbəl /

(of a body or system) having a state of apparent equilibrium although capable of changing to a more stable state
(of an atom, molecule, ion, or atomic nucleus) existing in an excited state with a relatively long lifetime

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

The result suggests that at high pressure diamond is what scientists call metastable.

Diamond was already known to be metastable at low pressures.

X-ray measurements of the material’s structure revealed that diamond persisted, suggesting it is metastable under extreme pressure.

To this fact van't Hoff attributes the great permanence of many really unstable (or metastable) carbon compounds.

At any point outside this area, monoclinic sulphur can exist only in a metastable condition.

This law explains the formation of the metastable forms of monotropic substances, which would otherwise not be obtainable.

Two of these solutions, however, would be metastable and supersaturated with respect to the decahydrate.

The dotted portions of the curves represent metastable equilibria.

April 19, 2024tortuous

[tawr-choo-uhs ]

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