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Classifying Matter by State

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Chemistry is the study of matter and the changes it undergoes. Matter is anything that has mass and occupies space. Matter is all around us; the air, water, soil, mountains, even our bodies are all examples of matter. Matter is divided into three states — solid, liquid, and gas — that are commonly found on earth. The fourth state of matter, plasma, occurs naturally in the interiors of stars.

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Matter: Pure Substances and Mixtures
According to its composition, the matter can be classified into two broad categories — pure substances and mixtures.
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The earliest recorded discussion of the basic structure of matter comes from ancient Greek philosophers. Leucippus and Democritus argued that all matter was composed of small, finite particles that they called atomos, meaning “indivisible.” Later, Aristotle and others came to the conclusion that matter consisted of various combinations of the four “elements” — fire, earth, air, and water — and could be infinitely divided. Interestingly, these philosophers...

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The substance of the universe—from a grain of sand to a star—is called matter. Scientists define matter as anything that occupies space and has mass. An object’s mass and its weight are related concepts, but not quite the same. An object’s mass is the amount of matter contained in the object and is the same whether that object is on Earth or in the zero-gravity environment of outer space. An object’s weight, on the other hand, is its mass as affected by the pull of...

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Solids, liquids, and gases are the three states of matter commonly found on Earth. A solid is rigid and possesses a definite shape. A liquid flows and takes the shape of its container, except it forms a flat or slightly curved upper surface when acted upon by gravity. Both liquid and solid samples have volumes nearly independent of pressure. A gas takes both the shape and volume of its container.
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20 mJ, 1 ps Yb:YAG Thin-disk Regenerative Amplifier

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Constraining a Thin Dark Matter Disk with Gaia.

Katelin Schutz¹, Tongyan Lin^1,2,3, Benjamin R Safdi⁴

¹Berkeley Center for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.

Physical Review Letters

|September 8, 2018

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers searched for a thin dark matter disk using Gaia data. The study found no evidence for a dark disk, setting new limits on its presence and updating measurements of the Milky Way's matter density.

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Area of Science:

Astronomy and astrophysics
Cosmology

Background:

Dark matter, a major component of the universe, is thought to interact primarily through gravity.
Some theories propose that dark matter may have dissipative interactions, leading to the formation of a thin dark disk.
Such a dark disk, if present, could explain phenomena like periodic comet impacts.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the existence of a thin dark matter disk in the Milky Way.
To constrain the properties of dark matter based on its potential distribution.
To update measurements of the total matter density in the Solar neighborhood.

Main Methods:

Utilized the first data release from the Gaia space observatory.
Analyzed stellar kinematics in the Milky Way to detect the gravitational influence of a dark disk.
Established new limits on the presence and density of a thin dark matter disk.

Main Results:

The study found no significant evidence supporting the existence of a thin dark matter disk.
New observational limits were placed, disfavoring a substantial dark disk.
Updated measurements of the total matter density in the Solar neighborhood were provided.

Conclusions:

The presence of a thin dark matter disk, as predicted by some models, is disfavored by current data.
The findings contribute to a better understanding of dark matter distribution and properties.
Updated density measurements refine our knowledge of the local galactic environment.