0.11 Sspd_chapter 1_part 11_solid state of matter  (Page 6/5)

SSPD_Chapter 1_Part 11_Solid State of Matter

1.10.DEFINITION OF INSULATORS, SEMICONDUCTORS AND INSULATORS.

1.10.1. SIX STATES OF MATTER.

There are six states of matter: gas, liquid, solid, plasma, Bose-Einstein Condensate and Fermi-ionic Condensate.

Gas has no fixed shape or volume. They have the shape and volume according to the vessel they occupy. Inter molecular distances are large and molecules are independent of one another. This state of matter obeys the Ideal Gas Law.

Liquid has a fixed volume but no fixed shape. It takes the shape of the vessel it occupies. Intermolecular distances are fixed and molecules experience cohesive force with respect to one another.

Solids have a fixed volume and fixed shape. The molecules are arranged in an orderly fashion giving rise to a crystalline structure. Because of the variation in the range of orderliness , the crystalline structure is classified as Single Crystal, Poly-crystal and Amorphous. The range of orderliness is shown in Figure(1.39).

For 300,000 years after the Big-Bang, temperature of the Universe was above 4000K and all matter was in PLASMA STATE. This is a soup of electrons, protons and neutrons. As long as matter is in plasma state, RADIATION dominates. Gravitational attraction is dominated by electromagnetic forces and thus the gravitational accretion is prevented.. As soon as temperature falls below 4000K, plasma recombines to form neutral mass of Hydrogen (70%), Helium(30%) and traces of Lithium. At this point radiation decouples and matter dominates. The decoupled radiation carries the imprint or profile of the matter distribution through out the Universe at the time of de-coupling. This decoupled radiation persists till today in almost its pristine state in which it decoupled from the matter. This decoupled radiation is known as Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR). The latest study of CMB by WMAP show that indeed there are hot spots and cold spots in CMB implying that in the remote past matter distribution did contain the unevenness which would eventually become the seeds for the formation of clusters, galaxies, solar systems and planets.

Bose-Einstein Condensate and Fermi-ionic condensate are described in Section (1.15) . They are closely related but Fermi-ionic Condensate formed at a lower temperature than the temperature at which Bose-Einstein Condensate is formed. It manifests a complex of spectacular behavior:

1. It flows through tiny capillaries without experiencing any friction;
2. It climbs in the form of film over the edge of vessels containing it. This phenomena is referred to as ‘film creep’;
3. It spouts in a spectacular way when heated under certain conditions;
4. If it is contained in a rotating container, the content in He-II Phase never rotates along with the container.