Project Nine- States of Matter

STATES OF MATTER

Matter is what is around you. The earth for example is made up of different types of matter. Even though different types of matter are found all over the universe, on earth there are five different types.

The states of matter are gas, such as steam, carbon dioxide and other fumes. Liquid such as water, milk and so on. Solids are dirt, trees, rock and everything that is stable and has a definite form. Plasmas are a lot like gases, but the atoms are different. Plasmas are found in lightning, flames and auroras. And BEC (Bose-Einstein Condensate) was just recently discovered in 1995.




STEAM

When you get liquids hot thing the molecules start moving faster than usual. So when you get something VERY hot like boiling water in this case, makes all the molecules move so fast they can’t even hold on to each other! So that’s why it makes steam.

ICE

When you get liquid below 0 O C its freezes. But why? It is pretty much the opposite reason of steam, when you get liquid cold the molecules slow down and when you get below 0 degrees Celsius the molecules are only vibrating a little and that makes a solid!



ATOMS: The smallest part of a substance which can exist and still retain the properties of the substance. Atoms are extremely small, having a radius of about -1010 (-100 billion) millimeters


The Three Main States of Matter

GAS: a state in which a substance has no definite volume or shape. It is either a vapor or gas. A vapor can be change into a liquid by applying pressure. A gas must first be turned into a vapor by reducing its temperature below a temperature below a level called gases critical temperature

SOLID: A state in which a substance has a definite volume and shape

LIQUID: a state in which a substance has a definite volume, but can change shape

PLASMA

 What is a plasma? Well, it’s not what is running along your veins that is a different type of plasma. The type of plasma that I am talking about is an actual state of matter. We start with the first three states of matter, solid the least amount of energy liquid the 2^nd least amount of energy and gas the 2^nd most amount of energy. So we start with a solid piece of ice and we add energy, it becomes a liquid (water), add more energy (heat it up) we get steam (which is a gas). Add LOTS more energy in and what’ll happen is the atom start to break apart. An atom is nothing more than a nucleus made up of protons and neutrons, and if you put enough energy into that. The electrons gain so much energy they actually break free of the atom. Then what you are left with is a free electron, which is a negative charge and an ion which is an atom or molecule with an electric charge due to the loss or gain of one or more electrons. 

Plasma  is made by putting gas under influence of radiation or electrical charge

Where you can find plasma in nature: Lightening, northern lights (auroras borealis), Flames, Stars and Solar wind

Where you can find human-made plasma: florescent light-bulbs, Neon signs, and in plasma TV’s

               BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATE                

We know that space is cold. In between the vast gulf of stars and galaxy’s in drops to 3 Kelvin or minus 273 degrees C, but it is about to get colder. When you get near absolute zero, atoms begin to clump, and stop moving completely. Since there is no more energy to transfer as in the other states all of the atoms have the exact same levels. The result of this clumping is Bose-Einstein Condensates. There are no longer thousands of separate atoms they all become one big one.

                                                                    

                                                        HOW IT IS MADE    

Scientists often use sodium atom. They first put in the atoms in to an oven at 700 degrees Celsius. Then they put it into a large metal container with glass to look in and shine lasers on the atoms. Now we know that lasers are hot but in this case it actually cools down the atoms down to a Millikelvin or a thousandths of 0 degrees kelvin but they need it down to Nanokelvin (a billionth of a degree kelvin) so like a hot drink in a cup it cools slowly but when you blow on it cools quicker, so instead of a cup it is a cup of radio waves and its radiation blowing on, the result of this is all the hot atoms fly out of the cup and then it is a Nanokelvin (a billionth of a degree kelvin) and the atoms start to clump!