States of matter.

 

 

Physical classification of matter.

Depending upon the physical state of matter, it can be classified into three states namely, solid, liquid and gas.

There are many more states of matter, but most of them are artificial. And these are also called modern states of matter.
Example: Bose–Einstein condensate, Fermionic condensate, Degenerate matter, Quantum Hall, Rydberg matter, Rydberg polaron Strange matter, Superfluid etc.

We are not concerned with those states of matter, we're only concerned with the natural states of matter. And in this topic, we will study mostly about three states of matter that are solid state, liquid state and gaseous state. There is one more state of matter and it is called Plasma.
These four states of matter are called natural states of matter.

Let us talk about properties of these states of matter.
   

Solid state:
1) A solid, has a definite shape and definite volume.
2) Solids are generally hard and rigid.
3) In solids, the particles are closely packed and empty spaces between them are very small.
4) Due to close packing of the particles, they can only by Britt about their fixed positions. i.e. they can have only vibratory motion.
5) The attractive forces among the particles, called interparticle forces are strong in solids.
6) Solids are incompressible.
E.g. wood, copper, iron, common salt etc.

 

Liquid state:
1) A liquid has a definite volume but no definite shape.
2) A liquid takes the shape of the container in which it is placed.
3) The particles are Loosely packed and empty spaces between them are relatively large.
4) The attractive forces between them are relatively weak.
5) However, they are not weak enough to allow the particles to separate from one another.
6) They are fluid i.e. they have property to flow
7) They are moderately compressible.
Example water,milk and oil etc.

 

Gaseous state:
1) A gas neither possess a definite volume, nor a definite shape.
2) It occupies the whole of the volume of the vessel in which it is placed
3) The particles are very Loosely packed and empty spaces between them are very large.
4) The attractive forces between the particles are very very small so that their movement is easy and fast.
5) They have the property of diffusion.
6) They are also fluid.
7) They are highly compressible.
Example: air, oxygen, hydrogen, helium etc.

Plasma:
Plasma is group of ionized gases.
Free charged particles, usually in equal numbers, such as ions and electrons. Unlike gases, plasma may self-generate magnetic fields and electric currents, and respond strongly and collectively to electromagnetic forces. Plasma is very uncommon on Earth (except for the ionosphere), although it is the most common state of matter in the universe

Example: Aurora, fire, lightning etc'.

These states of matter are interconvertible by changing the conditions of temperature and pressure.
 

In the next part, we shall discuss about the chemical classification of matter.