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Compressing a gas (or reducing its temperature) can form "agglomerations" in the form of liquid drops and solid grains.

But if there's only one particle in the system, can it be assigned with a phase (based on the given temperature and pressure), or is phase meaningless (i.e. arbitrary) in this case? In particular, in colloids of nanoparticles, is there any purpose in specifying the phase of the nanoparticles in the colloid?

Sparkler
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1 Answers1

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Physical state means the arrangement of particles. So particles are the base of one's physical state. Particles on itself can't have a specific physical state.

alvin
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  • So what's the difference between an isolated particle in room temperature vs. the same particle in 1K chamber or 1000K chamber (the chamber is much bigger than the particle; it's in vacuum except this particle)? – Sparkler Nov 10 '15 at 19:37
  • @Sparkler - Obviously, the vigor of the motion of an isolated particle will reflect the temperature of the environment that it is in. But when we speak of a "phase", we are talking about a characteristic that is associated with a large number of identical particles. It's neither very meaningful nor very useful to try to speak of the phase of a single particle. Why do you want to ascribe a phase to a single particle? Why would that be useful? –  Nov 10 '15 at 20:27