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Phase transitions commonly refer to when a substance transforms between one of the four states of matter to another. At the phase transition point for a substance, for instance the boiling point, the two phases involved - liquid and vapor, have identical free energies and therefore are equally likely to exist.
The solid–liquid phase boundary can only end in a critical point if the solid and liquid phases have the same symmetry group. [5] For most substances, the solid–liquid phase boundary (or fusion curve) in the phase diagram has a positive slope so that the melting point increases with pressure.
A typical phase diagram for a single-component material, exhibiting solid, liquid and gaseous phases. The solid green line shows the usual shape of the liquid–solid phase line. The dotted green line shows the anomalous behavior of water when the pressure increases. The triple point and the critical point are shown as red dots.
A phase transition indicates a change in structure and can be recognized by an abrupt change in properties. A distinct state of matter can be defined as any set of states distinguished from any other set of states by a phase transition. Water can be said to have several distinct solid states. [7] The appearance of superconductivity is ...
Melting is therefore classified as a first-order phase transition. Melting occurs when the Gibbs free energy of the liquid becomes lower than the solid for that material. The temperature at which this occurs is dependent on the ambient pressure. Low-temperature helium is the only known exception to the general rule. [2]
The solid phase is commonly referred to as a “gel” phase. All lipids have a characteristic temperature at which they undergo a transition ( melt ) from the gel to liquid phase. In both phases the lipid molecules are constrained to the two dimensional plane of the membrane, but in liquid phase bilayers the molecules diffuse freely within ...
Chain-melted state: Metals, such as potassium, at high temperature and pressure, present properties of both a solid and liquid. Wigner crystal: a crystalline phase of low-density electrons. Hexatic state, a state of matter that is between the solid and the isotropic liquid phases in two dimensional systems of particles. Ferroics
The solidus is the locus of temperatures (a curve on a phase diagram) below which a given substance is completely solid (crystallized). The solidus temperature specifies the temperature below which a material is completely solid, [2] and the minimum temperature at which a melt can co-exist with crystals in thermodynamic equilibrium.