If you’re a regular reader of this blog you’ll know that there’s more to the world around us than the three states of matter that we learn about at school. In the short time that we’ve been writing we’ve looked at plasma, dark matter and colloidal systems, all of which challenge the traditional view that […]
Category: What things are made of
Earth’s atmosphere
This wasn’t supposed to be a post on Earth’s atmosphere. I was trying to write about a common but underappreciated misconception about orbits, gravity and the atmosphere (post to follow!). But I kept writing phrases like “above the atmosphere”. And it became clear I was being dishonest. I mean I know that there is no […]
Mixing oil and water
We all learn pretty early on that oil and water don’t mix. Add a glug of cooking oil to a glass of water and you’ll end up with the oil sitting on top of the water1. Stirring or shaking this two-layered mixture will form droplets of oil in the water and you could argue that […]
Gels – solids, liquids or something else?
We are all taught at school that there are three states of matter, although those of you who read our recent post on the topic will know that there are more. Even so, we tend to label the materials that we encounter in our everyday lives as solids, liquids and gases and don’t often need […]
Where have all the solids, liquids and gases gone?
We are all taught at school that the three states of matter are solids, liquids and gases. It makes sense, and we don’t tend to question it. After all, we walk on the solid earth, drink liquid water and breathe the gaseous air. Without any one of these three states of matter, our lives would […]