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Related Concept Videos

Phase Transitions01:21

Phase Transitions

A phase transition is the process in which a substance changes from one state of matter to another, like from a solid to a liquid, liquid to gas, or vice versa, at a specific temperature and under given pressure conditions. This change is spontaneous and is affected by alterations in temperature and pressure. These parameters impact the strength of the forces between molecules (intermolecular forces) in the substance.During a phase transition, both the initial and final phases of the substance...
Phase Transitions02:31

Phase Transitions

Whether solid, liquid, or gas, a substance's state depends on the order and arrangement of its particles (atoms, molecules, or ions). Particles in the solid pack closely together, generally in a pattern. The particles vibrate about their fixed positions but do not move or squeeze past their neighbors. In liquids, although the particles are closely spaced, they are randomly arranged. The position of the particles are not fixed—that is, they are free to move past their neighbors to occupy...
Phase Transitions: Vaporization and Condensation02:39

Phase Transitions: Vaporization and Condensation

The physical form of a substance changes on changing its temperature. For example, raising the temperature of a liquid causes the liquid to vaporize (convert into vapor). The process is called vaporization—a surface phenomenon. Vaporization occurs when the thermal motion of the molecules overcome the intermolecular forces, and the molecules (at the surface) escape into the gaseous state. When a liquid vaporizes in a closed container, gas molecules cannot escape. As these gas phase molecules...
Phase Transitions: Melting and Freezing02:39

Phase Transitions: Melting and Freezing

Heating a crystalline solid increases the average energy of its atoms, molecules, or ions, and the solid gets hotter. At some point, the added energy becomes large enough to partially overcome the forces holding the molecules or ions of the solid in their fixed positions, and the solid begins the process of transitioning to the liquid state or melting. At this point, the temperature of the solid stops rising, despite the continual input of heat, and it remains constant until all of the solid is...
Entropy Changes Accompanying Specific Processes01:21

Entropy Changes Accompanying Specific Processes

Entropy, a measure of disorder in a system, changes during phase transitions like freezing or boiling. At the transition temperature Ttrs, where two phases are in equilibrium, the phase transition is a reversible process. The entropy change can be calculated from a substance's enthalpy of transition using the equation ΔStrs = ΔtrsH /Ttrs.When a perfect gas expands isothermally from one volume to another, entropy increases logarithmically with volume. Conversely, isothermal compression results...
Phase Diagram01:19

Phase Diagram

The phase of a given substance depends on the pressure and temperature. Thus, plots of pressure versus temperature showing the phase in each region provide considerable insights into the thermal properties of substances. Such plots are known as phase diagrams. For instance, in the phase diagram for water (Figure 1), the solid curve boundaries between the phases indicate phase transitions (i.e., temperatures and pressures at which the phases coexist).

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 12, 2026

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
06:42

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability

Published on: March 3, 2017

Phase transitions, critical phenomena, and instabilities.

P A Fleury

    Science (New York, N.Y.)
    |January 9, 1981
    PubMed
    Summary
    This summary is machine-generated.

    Phase transitions in diverse states of matter, like liquids and magnets, share underlying unity. Microscopic particle interactions cause dramatic macroscopic property changes, revealing universal behaviors in many-body systems.

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    Area of Science:

    • Condensed Matter Physics
    • Statistical Mechanics
    • Thermodynamics

    Background:

    • Phase transitions involve dramatic macroscopic property changes driven by microscopic interactions.
    • Diverse systems like liquids, magnets, superconductors, ferroelectrics, and liquid crystals exhibit similar transition behaviors.
    • Understanding these universalities is key to unifying phase transition phenomena.

    Purpose of the Study:

    • To review the basis and extent of unity in equilibrium many-body phase transition phenomena.
    • To explore analogies between equilibrium phase transitions and instability phenomena in non-equilibrium systems.

    Main Methods:

    • Review of theoretical frameworks for many-body systems.
    • Comparative analysis of phase transition characteristics across different physical systems.
    • Exploration of analogies with non-equilibrium phenomena like lasers and fluid dynamics.

    Main Results:

    • Identified striking similarities in the evolution of macroscopic properties during phase transitions across diverse systems.
    • Demonstrated a fundamental unity underlying phase transition phenomena in equilibrium many-body systems.
    • Highlighted parallels between equilibrium phase transitions and instabilities in far-from-equilibrium systems.

    Conclusions:

    • Phase transitions in various states of matter are governed by universal principles.
    • The study of many-body systems reveals deep connections between seemingly disparate physical phenomena.
    • Analogies extend to non-equilibrium systems, suggesting broader applicability of transition theories.