A phase transition is the transformation of a thermodynamic system from one phase or state of matter to another.
A phase of a thermodynamic system and the states of matter have uniform physical properties.
During a phase transition of a given medium certain properties of the medium change, often discontinuously, as a result of some external condition, such as temperature, pressure, and others. For example, a liquid may become gas upon heating to the boiling point, resulting in an abrupt change in volume. The measurement of the external conditions at which the transformation occurs is termed the phase transition
Phase transitions are common occurrences observed in nature and many engineering techniques exploit certain types of phase transition.
The term is most commonly used to describe transitions between solid, liquid and gaseous states of matter, and, in rare cases, plasma.
Read more about Phase Transition: Types of Phase Transition
Other articles related to "phase transition, phase transitions, phase, transitions":
... say that the model possesses a first-order phase transition as a function of ... the properties of superconductors near the phase transition ... model governs the superconducting phase transition which can be both first- and second-order, depending on the ratio of the Ginzburg–Landau parameter, with a tricritical point near which separates type I from ...
... Another phenomenon which shows phase transitions and critical exponents is percolation ... At a certain threshold pc a giant cluster is formed and we have a second order phase transition ...
... is normally a quantity which is zero in one phase (usually above the critical point), and non-zero in the other ... It characterises the onset of order at the phase transition ... For a ferromagnetic system undergoing a phase transition, the order parameter is the net magnetization ...
... This abrupt change is known as phase transition ... At the phase transition, fluctuations in macroscopic quantities, such as chemical concentrations, increase as the system oscillates between the more ordered state (lower entropy, such as ... Also, at the phase transition, macroscopic equations, such as the rate equations, fail ...
... breaking can be later preserved only if this phase transition was first-order ... This is because in a second-order phase transition sphalerons would wipe off any baryon asymmetry as it is created, while in a first-order phase transition sphalerons ... leptons and antileptons is formed first by leptogenesis and sphaleron transitions then convert this to an imbalance in the numbers of baryons and antibaryons ...
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“It no longer makes sense to speak of “feeding problems” or “sleep problems” or “negative behavior” is if they were distinct categories, but to speak of “problems of development” and to search for the meaning of feeding and sleep disturbances or behavior disorders in the developmental phase which has produced them.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)