5 ms·
Scientists may have found a new state of matter
- phdtree 13y agoHow this "equilibrium gel" is a new state of matter exactly?
- frozenport 13y agoUnlike BEC where quantum wave functions form an amalgam at 2.E-7K, with drastically different properties (harmonic generation of atoms, some materials passing through each other), this stuff is sensationalism.
- jayfuerstenberg 13y agoio9 sensationalism. It got you (and me) to open the link and read the article.
- jdmitch 13y agoseems to be pretty old news from the original link: http://news.sciencemag.org/physics/2010/12/new-state-matter-seen-clay?rss=1 http://news.sciencemag.org/physics/2010/12/new-state-matter-...
- andrewflnr 13y agoIs it just me, or is "state of matter" less of set of discrete boxes and more of a continuum with several parameters to describe a "state"? This gel, anyway, pretty much seems like a solid with a peculiar set of values for brittleness and flexibility.
- acjohnson55 13y agoStates are usually quite discontinuous, as in the transitions between solids, liquids, and gases. Usually a state has properties that apply throughout the material in bulk that derive specifically from how the particles interact with one another on a small scale. Usually, there are very distinct boundaries in therodynamic properties between phases. There are exceptions to this though, like in the case of pitch [1]. That being said, to me, this sounds more like a mixture [2] than a state of matter, unless there some sort of chemical interaction between the Laponite and water. But hey, the scientists probably know more than me about that. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_%28resin%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_%28resin%29 [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixture