phases of matter

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.)

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.

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Ultimately, this technique could make it possible for scientists to discover unknown phases of matter autonomously.

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The researchers hope that designing specific cavities will help them realize new and elusive phases of matter, and to better understand the delicate interplay between light and matter.

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Later, other physicists reinterpreted his discovery as having a topological explanation, which ended up revealing a host of new quantum phenomena and phases of matter.

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But exactly where the transition happens and how the different phases of matter behave, physicists aren’t sure.

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