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The term phase is sometimes used as a synonym for state of matter, but it is possible for a single compound to form different phases that are in the same state of matter. For example, ice is the solid state of water, but there are multiple phases of ice with different crystal structures, which are formed at different pressures and temperatures.
Strange matter: A type of quark matter that may exist inside some neutron stars close to the Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit (approximately 2–3 solar masses). May be stable at lower energy states once formed. Quark matter: Hypothetical phases of matter whose degrees of freedom include quarks and gluons Color-glass condensate
A definition of "matter" based on its physical and chemical structure is: matter is made up of atoms. [17] Such atomic matter is also sometimes termed ordinary matter. As an example, deoxyribonucleic acid molecules (DNA) are matter under this definition because they are made of atoms.
Force particles, called gauge bosons—force carriers or messenger particles of underlying fields—interact with matter particles, called fermions. Everyday matter is atoms, composed of three fermion types: up-quarks and down-quarks constituting, as well as electrons orbiting, the atom's nucleus.
Thus boron is not a candidate for life. [38] Arsenic is toxic to life, and its possible candidacy has been rejected. [39] [40] In the past (1960s-1970s) other candidates for life were plausible, but with time and more research, only carbon has the complexity and stability to make large molecules and polymers essential for life. [41] [42] [43]
The number of protons in the observable universe is called the Eddington number. In terms of number of particles, some estimates imply that nearly all the matter, excluding dark matter, occurs in neutrinos, which constitute the majority of the roughly 10 86 elementary particles of matter that exist in the visible universe. [11]
A single material may have several distinct solid states capable of forming separate phases. Water is a well-known example of such a material. For example, water ice is ordinarily found in the hexagonal form ice I h, but can also exist as the cubic ice I c, the rhombohedral ice II, and many other forms.
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.