Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Mesomorphic states: States of matter intermediate between solid and liquid. Plastic crystal: A molecular solid with long-range positional order but with constituent molecules retaining rotational freedom. Liquid crystal: Properties intermediate between liquids and crystals. Generally, able to flow like a liquid but exhibiting long-range ...
Historically, the distinction is based on qualitative differences in properties. Matter in the solid state maintains a fixed volume (assuming no change in temperature or air pressure) and shape, with component particles (atoms, molecules or ions) close together and fixed into place. Matter in the liquid state maintains a fixed volume (assuming ...
These quantitative properties may be used as a metric by which the benefits of one material versus another can be compared, thereby aiding in materials selection. A property having a fixed value for a given material or substance is called material constant or constant of matter. [1]
Exotic matter is a concept of particle physics, which may include dark matter and dark energy but goes further to include any hypothetical material that violates one or more of the properties of known forms of matter.
String theory is a model of physics whereby all "particles" that make up matter are composed of strings (measuring at the Planck length) that exist in an 11-dimensional (according to M-theory, the leading version) or 12-dimensional (according to F-theory [18]) universe. These strings vibrate at different frequencies that determine mass ...
On the other hand, some constants, such as K f (the freezing point depression constant, or cryoscopic constant), depend on the identity of a substance, and so may be considered to describe the state of a system, and therefore may be considered physical properties. "Specific" properties are expressed on a per mass basis.
Physical properties are often characterized as intensive and extensive properties. An intensive property does not depend on the size or extent of the system, nor on the amount of matter in the object, while an extensive property shows an additive relationship.
The characteristic properties of a substance are always the same whether the sample being observed is large or small. Thus, conversely, if the property of a substance changes as the sample size changes, that property is not a characteristic property. Examples of physical properties that aren't characteristic properties are mass and volume.