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MacRoscopic Properties: The World We See

Phases of Matter and Intensive Properties

What are the different phases of matter?

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There are three phases, or states, of matter that you come across every day—solids, liquids, and gases. There is a fourth phase of matter, plasma, which is only naturally found in stars and elsewhere in outer space. The distinctions between the first three phases are usually made using bulk properties. Solids have a defined shape and volume, while liquids easily change their shape but not their volume. Gases have neither a defined shape nor volume.



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