In physics, exotic matter is a term which refers to matter which would somehow deviate from the norm and have "exotic" properties. There are several uses of the term.
- Hypothetical particles which have "exotic" physical properties that would violate known laws of physics, such as a particle having a negative mass.
- Hypothetical particles which have not yet been encountered, such as exotic baryons, but whose properties would be within the realm of mainstream physics if found to exist. Futurist Ray Kurzweil has speculated that by the end of the 21st century it may be possible by using femtotechnology to create new chemical elements composed of exotic baryons that would eventually constitute a new periodic table of elements in which the elements would have completely different properties than the regular chemical elements.
- States of matter which are not commonly encountered, such as Bose–Einstein condensates and quark–gluon plasma, but whose properties are perfectly within the realm of mainstream physics.
- States of matter which are poorly understood, such as dark matter.
Read more about Exotic Matter: Negative Mass, Imaginary Mass
Famous quotes containing the words exotic and/or matter:
“I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Experience is not a matter of having actually swum the Hellespont, or danced with the dervishes, or slept in a doss-house. It is a matter of sensibility and intuition, of seeing and hearing the significant things, of paying attention at the right moments, of understanding and co-ordinating. Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)