- Common Perception of the Material World: Solid Matter as Default
Many people ordinarily think of the material world as consisting of solid bodies in space, with measurable properties nd distinctive shapes, moving through time and colliding with one another. - Overlooking Other States of Matter: Liquids and Gases
People often forget that matter also assumes the form of liquids and gases, which are also part of the material world. - Beyond Solids, Liquids, and Gases: Expanded Understanding Through Condensed Matter Physics
In our time, condensed matter physics expands the notion of states of matter far beyond solids, liquids, and gases to include many other states, such as liquid crystals, magnets, glass, and superconductors. More states of matter are being discovered. - Whitehead's Event-Based Understanding of Matter
Whitehead's philosophy proposes that these many forms of matter are best understood not as solid objects (e.g., miniature particles) but as energy events, with all material objects being either events themselves or aggregate expressions of such events. - The Relationality of Energy Events
Energy events are relational by nature, internally connected to one another in ways that physicists can discern. These relationships sometimes involve transitions between states, highlighting the dynamic and interconnected character of materiality. - A Question for Our Time: A More Vibrant Materiality
A key question for our time is whether and how people might perceive matter in this way—such that matter itself is felt as vibrant, dynamic, and alive with energy. The hope is that this might contribute to a more "enchanted" view of the physical world,, which might help elicit wonder and respect for physicality. - Energy, Feeling, and Creativity
Whitehead adds that energy is closely connected to feeling and that transfers of energy between energy events are also transfers of feeling. Moreover, moments of experience contain an element of creativity or spontaneity, reflecting the dynamic nature of existence. - Art as a Window into Vibrant Materiality
Perceiving the material world in this way goes beyond physics and may best be evoked by the arts. Images from art, which portray matter as living and vibrant, can complement the scientific understandings of the many states of matter explored in condensed matter physics. Whitehead himself turned to romantic poetry to understand the spiritual, living side of nature. - Imagining Other Dimensions of Matter-Energy
If all forms of matter are forms of energy, and all forms of energy are forms of feeling with spontaneity of their own, it becomes possible to imagine other forms of matter-energy beyond those currently discovered by science, potentially existing in other dimensions of the space-time continuum. - Ostensibly "Spiritual" Realities as Matter-Energy
Ostensibly "spiritual" realities—such as spirits, ancestors, artificial intelligence, and divine beings—might likewise be understood as forms of matter, emerging from or embodying the dynamics of matter-energy events. - Rethinking Solid Matter as a Starting Point
The process of moving into these other ways of perceiving begins with rethinking solid matter itself—not as the default or fundamental state of materiality, but as one among many forms and as an aggregate expression of vital, vibrant energy. - The Role of Contemporary Physics in Rethinking Matter
Contemporary condensed matter physics, when combined with quantum theory, can assist in this rethinking of solid matter, helping to reveal its dynamic and energetic nature. It need not enter into the more speculative discussions above, but it is immensely helpful in rethinking the measurable forms.
15 Minute Introduction
to Condensed Matter Physics
The Very Short Introductions Podcast
In this episode, Ross H. McKenzie introduces condensed matter physics, the field which aims to explain how states of matter and their distinct physical properties emerge. A PDF transcript for this episode can be found here: https://oxford.ly/3SmMYP3 Learn more about "Condensed Matter Physics: A Very Short Introduction" here: https://oxford.ly/46UfEmZ
Ross H. McKenzie is an Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. His research in condensed matter physics focuses on using quantum theory to understand complex materials, ranging from organic superconductors to fluorescent proteins.
Condensed Matter Physics:
A Very Short Introduction
Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. His research in condensed matter physics focuses on using quantum theory to understand complex materials, ranging from organic superconductors to fluorescent proteins.
There are many more states of matter than just solid, liquid, and gas. Examples include liquid crystal, magnet, glass, and superconductor. New states are continually, and unexpectedly, being discovered. Some states, such as superconductor, can act like Schrödinger's cat and exhibit the weirdness normally associated with the quantum theory of atoms, photons, and electrons. Condensed matter physics seeks to understand how states of matter and their distinct physical properties emerge from the atoms of which a material is composed.
A system of many interacting parts can have properties that the parts do not have. Water is wet, but a single water molecule is not. Your brain is conscious, but a single neuron is not. Such emergent phenomena are central to condensed matter physics and also occur in many fields, from biology to computer science to sociology, leading to rich intellectual connections. When do quantitative differences become qualitative differences? Can simple models describe rich and complex behaviour? What is the relationship between the particular and the universal? How is the abstract related to the concrete? Condensed matter physics is all about these big questions.
Superconductivity
Excepts from the Podcast: Ross McKenzie
Superconductivity occurs in many metals when they're cooled down to extremely low temperatures, close to absolute zero—that's minus 273 degrees Centigrade. Now in the superconducting state, a metal can conduct electricity perfectly, that is perfectly, without generating any heat at all. The superconducting state also has a unique property, in that it expels magnetic fields, meaning that you can levitate objects, whether sumo wrestlers or trains. The discovery of superconductivity in 1911 presented a considerable intellectual challenge. What is the origin of this new state of matter? How do the electrons in the metal interact with one another to produce a perfect conductor, a superconductor?
Now, I find superconducting even more interesting when considering quantum theory. Now, by 1930, it was widely accepted that quantum theory, in all its strangeness, could describe the atomic world of electrons, protons, and photons. However, this strangeness does not show itself in the everyday world of what we can see and touch. You cannot be in two places at the same time, your cat is either dead or alive. However, condensed matter physicists have shown that the boundary between the atomic and everyday world is not so clear cut. A piece of superconducting metal can take on some weird quantum properties, just like a single atom, even though the metal is made of billions of billions of atoms. It can be put in two quantum states at the same time, almost like Schrödinger's famous cat that was dead and alive at the same time
Now, I find superconducting even more interesting when considering quantum theory. Now, by 1930, it was widely accepted that quantum theory, in all its strangeness, could describe the atomic world of electrons, protons, and photons. However, this strangeness does not show itself in the everyday world of what we can see and touch. You cannot be in two places at the same time, your cat is either dead or alive. However, condensed matter physicists have shown that the boundary between the atomic and everyday world is not so clear cut. A piece of superconducting metal can take on some weird quantum properties, just like a single atom, even though the metal is made of billions of billions of atoms. It can be put in two quantum states at the same time, almost like Schrödinger's famous cat that was dead and alive at the same time
Thee rest of this page is a brief introduction to Condensed Matter Physics based on Professor Ross H. McKenzie's "Very Short Introduction to Condensed Matter Physics (Oxford University Press). The fifteen minute podcast below makes the case for some what is said above.