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In a solid, constituent particles (ions, atoms, or molecules) are closely packed together. The forces between particles are so strong that the particles cannot move freely but can only vibrate. As a result, a solid has a stable, definite shape, and a definite volume. Solids can only change their shape by an outside force, as when broken or cut.
Molecular physics, while closely related to atomic physics, also overlaps greatly with theoretical chemistry, physical chemistry and chemical physics. [4] Both subfields are primarily concerned with electronic structure and the dynamical processes by which these arrangements change. Generally this work involves using quantum mechanics.
Tracer diffusion describes the motion of individual adparticles on a surface at relatively low coverage levels. At these low levels (< 0.01 monolayer), particle interaction is low and each particle can be considered to move independently of the others. The single atom diffusing in figure 1 is a nice example of tracer diffusion.
At appreciable temperatures, many of these new motional modes are excited, resulting in constant motion as seen above. Molecular physics is the study of the physical properties of molecules and molecular dynamics. The field overlaps significantly with physical chemistry, chemical physics, and quantum chemistry.
A distinguishing feature of diffusion is that it depends on particle random walk, and results in mixing or mass transport without requiring directed bulk motion. Bulk motion, or bulk flow, is the characteristic of advection. [1] The term convection is used to describe the combination of both transport phenomena.
Solid-state physics is the study of rigid matter, or solids, through methods such as solid-state chemistry, quantum mechanics, crystallography, electromagnetism, and metallurgy. It is the largest branch of condensed matter physics. Solid-state physics studies how the large-scale properties of solid materials result from their atomic-scale ...
According to physicist Philip Warren Anderson, the use of the term "condensed matter" to designate a field of study was coined by him and Volker Heine, when they changed the name of their group at the Cavendish Laboratories, Cambridge, from Solid state theory to Theory of Condensed Matter in 1967, [10] as they felt it better included their interest in liquids, nuclear matter, and so on.
There are two main descriptions of motion: dynamics and kinematics.Dynamics is general, since the momenta, forces and energy of the particles are taken into account. In this instance, sometimes the term dynamics refers to the differential equations that the system satisfies (e.g., Newton's second law or Euler–Lagrange equations), and sometimes to the solutions to those equations.