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Matter organizes into various phases or states of matter depending on its constituents and external factors like pressure and temperature. Except at extreme temperatures and pressures, atoms form the three classical states of matter: solid , liquid and gas .
Forms of matter that are not composed of molecules and are organized by different forces can also be considered different states of matter. Superfluids (like Fermionic condensate) and the quark–gluon plasma are examples. In a chemical equation, the state of matter of the chemicals may be shown as (s) for solid, (l) for liquid, and (g) for gas.
In physics, chemistry, and other related fields like biology, a phase transition (or phase change) is the physical process of transition between one state of a medium and another. Commonly the term is used to refer to changes among the basic states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas, and in rare cases, plasma.
The figure shows the schematic P-T diagram of a pure substance (as opposed to mixtures, which have additional state variables and richer phase diagrams, discussed below). The commonly known phases solid , liquid and vapor are separated by phase boundaries, i.e. pressure–temperature combinations where two phases can coexist.
The pressure on a pressure-temperature diagram (such as the water phase diagram shown above) is the partial pressure of the substance in question. A phase diagram in physical chemistry, engineering, mineralogy, and materials science is a type of chart used to show conditions (pressure, temperature, etc.) at which thermodynamically distinct ...
Thermodynamic diagrams are diagrams used to represent the thermodynamic states of a material (typically fluid) and the consequences of manipulating this material. For instance, a temperature– entropy diagram ( T–s diagram ) may be used to demonstrate the behavior of a fluid as it is changed by a compressor.
In physics and chemistry, an equation of state is a thermodynamic equation relating state variables, which describe the state of matter under a given set of physical conditions, such as pressure, volume, temperature, or internal energy. [1] [2] Most modern equations of state are formulated in the Helmholtz free energy.
Iron-carbon phase diagram, showing the conditions necessary to form different phases. Distinct phases may be described as different states of matter such as gas, liquid, solid, plasma or Bose–Einstein condensate. Useful mesophases between solid and liquid form other states of matter. Distinct phases may also exist within a given state of matter.