A solid is one of the four principal states of matter. A solid object is characterized by resistance to deformation and change of volume. The branch of physics that deals with solids is called solid-state physics, and it is a type of condensed matter physics. Materials science is primarily concerned with properties of solids such as strength and phase transformations. It overlaps strongly with solid-state physics. Solid-state chemistry overlaps both these fields, but it is especially concerned with the synthesis of novel materials.
On the level of atoms and molecules, a solid has these properties :
The lightest known solid is man-made and is called aerogel. The lightest aerogel produced has a density of 1.9 mg/cm3 or 1.9 kg/m3 (1/530 as dense as water).
Quantities of solids are commonly measured in units of mass and volume. Units of mass include grams, kilograms (an SI unit), and pounds; units of volume include the cubic meter (m³) (an SI unit).
States of Matter |
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Solid | Liquid | Gas | Plasma | Colloid | Supercritical fluid | Superfluid | Supersolid | Degenerate matter | Quark-gluon plasma | Fermionic condensate | Bose–Einstein condensate | Strange matter | Melting point | Boiling point | Triple point | Critical point | Equation of state | Cooling curve |
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