Phase (matter)

In the physical sciences, a phase is a set of states of a macroscopic physical system that have relatively uniform chemical composition and physical properties (i.e. density, crystal structure, index of refraction, and so forth.) The most familiar examples of phases are solids, liquids, and gases. Less familiar phases include plasmas and quark-gluon plasmas, Bose-Einstein condensates and fermionic condensates, strange matter, liquid crystals, superfluids and supersolids and the paramagnetic and ferromagnetic phases of magnetic materials.

Related Topics:
Physical science - Set - Density - Crystal structure - Index of refraction - Solid - Liquid - Gas - Plasma - Quark-gluon plasma - Bose-Einstein condensate - Fermionic condensate - Strange matter - Liquid crystal - Superfluid - Supersolid - Paramagnetic - Ferromagnetic - Magnet

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Phases are sometimes called states of matter, but this term can lead to confusion with thermodynamic states. For example, two gases maintained at different pressures are in different thermodynamic states, but the same "state of matter".

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