The 6th State of Matter; Fermionic Condensate

Fermionic Condensate is a superfluid phase formed by fermionic particles at low temperatures. It is closely related to the Bose–Einstein condensate, a superfluid phase formed by bosonic atoms under similar conditions. Unlike the Bose–Einstein condensates, fermionic condensates are formed using fermions instead of bosons. The earliest recognized fermionic condensate described the state of electrons in a superconductor; the physics of other examples including recent work with fermionic atoms is analogous. The first atomic fermionic condensate was created by Deborah S. Jin in 2003. A chiral condensate is an example of a fermionic condensate that appears in theories of massless fermions with chiral symmetry breaking.

Superfluidity

Fermionic condensates are called the sixth state of matter. They are attained at temperatures lower than Bose–Einstein condensates. Fermionic condensates are a type of superfluid. As the name suggests, a superfluid possesses fluid properties similar to those possessed by ordinary liquids and gases, such as the lack of a definite shape and the ability to flow in response to applied forces. However, superfluids possess some properties that do not appear in ordinary matter. For instance, they can flow at low velocities without dissipating any energy—i.e. zero viscosity. At higher velocities, energy is dissipated by the formation of quantized vortices, which act as "holes" in the medium where superfluidity breaks down.

Superfluidity was originally discovered in liquid helium-4, in 1938, by Pyotr Kapitsa, John Allen and Don Misener. Superfluidity in helium-4, which occurs at temperatures below 2.17 kelvins (K), has long been understood to result from Bose condensation, the same mechanism that produces the Bose–Einstein condensates. The primary difference between superfluid helium and a Bose–Einstein condensate is that the former is condensed from a liquid while the latter is condensed from a gas.

Fermionic superfluids

It is far more difficult to produce a fermionic superfluid than a bosonic one, because the Pauli exclusion principle prohibits fermions from occupying the same quantum state. However, there is a well-known mechanism by which a superfluid may be formed from fermions. This is the BCS transition, discovered in 1957 by John Bardeen, Leon Cooper and Robert Schrieffer for describing superconductivity. These authors showed that, below a certain temperature, electrons (which are fermions) can pair up to form bound pairs now known asCooper pairs. As long as collisions with the ionic lattice of the solid do not supply enough energy to break the Cooper pairs, the electron fluid will be able to flow without dissipation. As a result, it becomes a superfluid, and the material through which it flows a superconductor.

The BCS theory was phenomenally successful in describing superconductors. Soon after the publication of the BCS paper, several theorists proposed that a similar phenomenon could occur in fluids made up of fermions other than electrons, such as helium-3 atoms. These speculations were confirmed in 1971, when experiments performed by Douglas D. Osheroff showed that helium-3 becomes a superfluid below 0.0025 K. It was soon verified that the superfluidity of helium-3 arises from a BCS-like mechanism. (The theory of superfluid helium-3 is a little more complicated than the BCS theory of superconductivity. These complications arise because helium atoms repel each other much more strongly than electrons, but the basic idea is the same.)

Creation of the first fermionic condensates

When Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman produced a Bose–Einstein condensate from rubidium atoms in 1995, there naturally arose the prospect of creating a similar sort of condensate made from fermionic atoms, which would form a superfluid by the BCS mechanism. However, early calculations indicated that the temperature required for producing Cooper pairing in atoms would be too cold to achieve. In 2001, Murray Holland at JILA suggested a way of bypassing this difficulty. He speculated that fermionic atoms could be coaxed into pairing up by subjecting them to a strong magnetic field.

In 2003, working on Holland's suggestion, Deborah Jin at JILA, Rudolf Grimm at the University of Innsbruck, and Wolfgang Ketterle atMIT managed to coax fermionic atoms into forming molecular bosons, which then underwent Bose–Einstein condensation. However, this was not a true fermionic condensate. On December 16, 2003, Jin managed to produce a condensate out of fermionic atoms for the first time. The experiment involved 500,000 potassium-40 atoms cooled to a temperature of 5×10⁻⁸ K, subjected to a time-varying magnetic field. The findings were published in the online edition of Physical Review Letters on January 24, 

Based from:

• Guenault, Tony (2003). Basic superfluids. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-7484-0892-4.

• University of Colorado (January 28, 2004). NIST/University of Colorado Scientists Create New Form of Matter: A Fermionic Condensate. Press Release.

• Rodgers, Peter & Dumé, Bell (January 28, 2004). Fermionic condensate makes its debut. PhysicWeb.

Matter; Defining All Around Us!

Matter is anything that occupies space and has rest mass (or invariant mass). It is a general term for the substance of which all physical objects consist. Typically, matter includes atoms and other particles which have mass. Mass is said by some to be the amount of matter in an object and volume is the amount of space occupied by an object, but this definition confuses mass and matter, which are not the same. Different fields use the term in different and sometimes incompatible ways; there is no single agreed scientific meaning of the word "matter," even though the term "mass" is better-defined.

Contrary to the previous view that equates mass and matter, a major difficulty in defining matter consists in deciding what forms of energy (all of which have mass) are not matter. In general, massless particles such as photons and gluons are not considered forms of matter, even though when these particles are trapped in systems at rest, they contribute energy and mass to them. For example, almost 99% of the mass of ordinary atomic matter consists of mass associated with the energy contributed by the gluons and the kinetic energy of the quarks which make up nucleons. In this view, most of the mass of ordinary "matter" consists of mass which is not contributed by matter particles.

For much of the history of the natural sciences people have contemplated the exact nature of matter. The idea that matter was built of discrete building blocks, the so-called particulate theory of matter, was first put forward by the Greek philosophers Leucippus (~490 BC) and Democritus (~470–380 BC). Over time an increasingly fine structure for matter was discovered: objects are made from molecules, molecules consist of atoms, which in turn consist of interacting subatomic particles like protons and electrons.

Matter is commonly said to exist in four states (or phases): solid, liquid, gas and plasma. However, advances in experimental techniques have realized other phases, previously only theoretical constructs, such as Bose–Einstein condensates and fermionic condensates. A focus on an elementary-particle view of matter also leads to new phases of matter, such as the quark–gluon plasma.

In physics and chemistry, matter exhibits both wave-like and particle-like properties, the so-called wave–particle duality.

In the realm of cosmology, extensions of the term matter are invoked to include dark matter and dark energy, concepts introduced to explain some odd phenomena of the observable universe, such as the galactic rotation curve. These exotic forms of "matter" do not refer to matter as "building blocks", but rather to currently poorly understood forms of mass and energy.

Laboratory Apparatuses; Part 2 (Meet the Glassware!)

Chemist; Career Information

Job Description - Chemist:

Chemists search for and use new knowledge about chemicals to improve the way we live. They develop products, such as synthetic fibers, drugs and cosmetics, and processes, including oil refining and petrochemical processing, that reduce energy use and pollution. Chemists specialize in areas such as analytical, organic, inorganic, physical and theoretical, macromolecular, medical, and materials chemistry.



Employment Facts - Chemists:

In 2008, 84,000 people were employed as chemists in the United States.


Educational Requirements for Chemists:

One who wants to work as a chemist must have, at the minimum, a bachelor's degree in chemistry. However, most research jobs in chemistry require at least a master's degree, but more often a Ph.D.Those who want to pursue careers in chemistry should take courses in science and mathematics.


Other Requirements - Chemists:

Future chemists should like working with their hands, building scientific apparatus, and performing laboratory experiments. They should also like computer modeling. The following traits are also necessary:
Perseverance;
Curiosity;
The ability to concentrate on detail;
The ability to work independently


Job Outlook - Chemists:

Employment of chemists is expected to grow more slowly than the average for all occupations through 2018.


Earnings - Chemists:

Chemists earned a median annual salary of $68,220 in 2009.
Use the Salary Wizard at Salary.com to find out how much chemists currently earn in your city.


What Do Chemists Working in Different Specialties Do?:

Analytical chemists examine and identify the elements and compounds that make up a substance in order to determine the structure, composition, and nature of that substance.
Organic chemists study the chemistry of the carbon compounds that make up all living things.
Inorganic chemists study compounds consisting mainly of elements other than carbon.
Medical chemists study the structural properties of compounds intended for applications to human medicine.
Materials chemists study and develop new materials to improve existing products or make new ones.


Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition, Chemists and Materials Scientists, on the Internet athttp://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos049.htm (visited May 4, 2010).
Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, O*NET Online, Chemists, on the Internet at http://online.onetcenter.org/link/details/19-2031.00 (visited November 9, 2010).

Laboratory Apparatuses; Part 1

Beaker, Test Tube, Erlenmeyer Flask

Function:
- For storing, heating and holding of chemicals.

History of Chemistry

By 1000 BC, ancient civilizations used technologies that would eventually form the basis of the various branches of chemistry. Examples include extracting metals from ores, making pottery and glazes, fermenting beer and wine, making pigments for cosmetics and painting, extracting chemicals from plants for medicine and perfume, making cheese, dying cloth, tanning leather, rendering fat into soap, making glass, and making alloys like bronze.

Early attempts to explain the nature of matter and its transformations failed. The protoscience of chemistry, Alchemy, was also unsuccessful in explaining the nature of matter. However, by performing experiments and recording the results the alchemist set the stage for modern chemistry. This distinction begins to emerge when a clear differentiation was made between chemistry and alchemy by Robert Boyle in his work The Sceptical Chymist(1661). Chemistry then becomes a full-fledged science when Antoine Lavoisier develops his law of conservation of mass, which demands careful measurements and quantitative observations of chemical phenomena. So, while both alchemy and chemistry are concerned with the nature of matter and its transformations, it is only the chemists who apply the scientific method. The history of chemistry is intertwined with the history of thermodynamics, especially through the work of Willard Gibbs.

College Grading System

Grading System

Students shall be graded in accordance with the following system:

Grades	Percentage	Equivalent
1.0	97-100	Excellent
1.25	94-96	Excellent
1.5	91-93	Very Good
1.75	88-90	Very Good
2.0	85-87	Good
2.25	82-84	Good
2.5	79-81	Satisfactory
2.75	76-78	Satisfactory
3.0	75	Passing
4.0	65-74	Conditional
5.0		Failure
INC		Incomplete
W		Withdrawn

 A grade of "4.0" is Conditional and shall be given only during the mid-term grading period. No final grade of "4.0" shall be given.

 Incomplete ("INC") is temporarily given to a student who may qualify for passing but had not complied with all requirements of the subject. Such requirement(s) must be satisfied within one year from the end of the term; otherwise, the grade automatically becomes a "5.0".

 "Withdrawn" is given if the student voluntarily drops a subject and corresponding files a dropping from at any time not less than two weeks before the final examination. After this period the faculty member may only give a passing of failing grade. Withdrawn is also given when the faculty member drops the student from his roll for having exceeded the allowable number of absences.

A student who has received a passing grade in a subject shall not be allowed to take another examination for the purpose of improving his grade.

- based from PUP Official Handbook