Two states of matter they

didn’t teach you about in

school…
Until Now!
 Plasma

Bose-
Einstein
Condensate
 We all know about:
SOLIDS LIQUIDS GASES

Lower Higher
Temperature 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. Clouds of gas and
dust around stars

6
 So now we know all about
four states of matter:
PLASM
LIQUIDS GASES AS
SOLIDS (only for low
density
ionized gases)

Lower Higher
Temperature Temperature
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 5 th
state of matter which would occur at very
very low temperatures.

Einstein Bose

+
 Finally, in 1995 (only 11
years ago!), Wolfgang
Ketterle and his team of
graduate students (like me)
discovered the 5 th state of
matter for the first time.
Ketterle and his
students

The 5 state of matter:

th

Bose-Einstein
Condensate
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:
PLASM
BOSE- AS
EINSTEIN (only for low
CONDENSA SOLIDS LIQUIDS GASES density
ionized
TE
gases)

Lower Higher
Temperature Temperature