Two states of matter they didn’t teach you about in

school…Until Now!

Plasma

Bose-EinsteinCondensate

We all know about:

LIQUIDSSOLIDS GASES

Higher Temperature

Lower Temperature

But what happens if you raise the temperature to super-high levels…

between 1000°C and 1,000,000,000°C ?

Will everything just be a gas?

NO!If the gas is made up of particles which carry

an electric charge (“ionized particles”), but the entire gas as a whole has no electric charge, and if the density is not too high, then we can get

The 4th state of matter:

PLASMA

Some places where plasmas are found…

1. Flames

2. Lightning

3. Aurora (Northern Lights)

4. Neon lights

5. Stars

Stars make up 99% of the total matter in the Universe.

Therefore, 99% of everything that exists in the entire Universe is in the plasma state.

The Sun is an example of a star in its plasma state

6

6. Clouds of gas and dust around stars

So now we know all about four states of matter:

LIQUIDSSOLIDS GASES

Higher Temperature

Lower Temperature

PLASMAS

(only for low density ionized

gases)

But now what happens if you lower the temperature way, way, down to

100 nano degrees above

“Absolute Zero” (-273°C)

Will everything just be a

frozen solid?

Not Necessarily!In 1924 (82 years ago), two scientists, Albert

Einstein and Satyendra Bose predicted a 5th state of matter which would occur at very very low temperatures.

Einstein Bose

+

The 5th state of matter:

Bose-Einstein Condensate

Finally, in 1995 Wolfgang Ketterle and his team of graduate students discovered the 5th state of matter for the first time.

Ketterle and his students

In a Bose-Einstein condensate, atoms can no longer bounce around as

individuals.

Instead they must all act in exactly the same way, and you can no longer tell

them apart!

Here is a picture a computer took of

Bose-Einstein Condensation The big peak

happens when all the atoms act exactly the same way!(We can’t see Bose-Einstein condensation with our eyes because the atoms are too small)

Some other computer images of Bose-Einstein Condensates…

To really understand Bose-Einstein

condensate you need to know

Quantum Physics

In 2002, Ketterle and two other scientists received the highest award in science for

discovering Bose-Einstein condensate:

The Nobel Prize

The five states of matter:

LIQUIDSSOLIDS GASES

Higher Temperature

Lower Temperature

PLASMAS

(only for low density ionized gases)

BOSE-EINSTEIN

CONDENSATE