Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

> "Well for electronic components your basic three chioces [sic] for states of matter are solid, liquid, and gas."*

Three states of matter is basically a fairy-tale we use as a first, easily understandable basic working model of matter. In reality there are so many states that Wikipedia has a dedicated page to list them: "List of states of matter" [1]

This is also the reason why every physicist cringes when the usual popular science mags announce the discovery of "a fourth state of matter" about once every year.

> "Silicon crystals are naturally solid-state"

Solid room temperature silicon can be in a crystalline state or an amorphous state. While amorphous silicon may appear solid it has many properties of a liquid and thats where the word "liquid" in LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) comes from. So, its not that easy.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_of_matter




There are probably transition states that are still to be identified.

I'm trying to narrow it down to the obvious choices ;)

Physicists are the experts on this kind of thing and I just go along with the choice they made when they started calling electronic components "solid-state" to begin with.

My apologies for being so controversial.




Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: