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2025-03-08 15:15:49 UTC
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StartsWithABang on Nostr: So, let's pretend we lived in a world where instead of me being an astrophysicist who ...

So, let's pretend we lived in a world where instead of me being an astrophysicist who became a science communicator, I (or someone like me) was a condensed matter physicist who became a science communicator.

How should I be communicating the notions of states of matter (and/or phases of matter) to the general public?

What don't they know; what should they know; how should they think about it?

How do you convey "there are X different phases of superfluidity in different isotopes of helium" or "Y different phases of water-ice in solid form" or "every phase transition yields a new state of matter" without rendering everyday concepts of what a "phase" or "state" of matter is untenable?

In biology, we have many different granularities of classification for organism, from superkingdom to subspecies. Do we need something like that for states of matter? And what would it look like?

I'm legitimately not enough of an expert to have a strong opinion. What's yours?