THE WHATIS.COM WORD-OF-THE-DAY November 26, 2002 matter ______________ TODAY'S SPONSOR: VeriSign - The Value of Trust
Secure all your Web servers now - with a proven 5-part strategy. The FREE Server Security Guide shows you how to: - DEPLOY THE LATEST ENCRYPTION and authentication techniques - DELIVER TRANSPARENT PROTECTION with the strongest security without disrupting users. And more. Get your FREE Guide now: http://WhatIs.com/r/0,,7805,00.htm?freeguide ______________ TODAY'S WORD: matter This is an abbreviated definition. See our complete definition with hyperlinks at http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci865252,00.html Matter is a substance that has inertia and occupies physical space. According to modern physics, matter consists of various types of particles, each with mass and size. The most familiar examples of material particles are the electron, proton, and neutron. Combinations of these particles form atoms. There are more than 100 different kinds of atoms, each kind constituting a unique chemical element. A combination of atoms forms a molecule. Atoms and/or molecules can join together to form a compound. Matter can exist in several states, also called phases. The three most common states are known as solid, liquid, and gas. A single element or compound of matter might exist in more than one of the three states, depending on the temperature and pressure. Less familiar states of matter include plasma, foam, and Bose-Einstein condensate. These occur under special conditions. Different kinds of matter can combine to form substances that may not resemble any of the original ingredients. For example, hydrogen (a gaseous element) and oxygen (another gaseous element) combine to form water (a liquid compound at room temperature). The process of such combination is called a chemical reaction. A chemical reaction involves interactions between the electrons of the atoms, but does not affect the nuclei of the atoms. In recent years, scientists have confirmed the existence of a substance called antimatter. The electron has an antiparticle twin called a positron, with equal mass but opposite electric charge. Similarly, the proton has an antimatter twin called an antiproton, and the neutron has an antimatter twin called an antineutron. If a particle of matter encounters its antiparticle, both are converted entirely to energy according to the above formula, where m is the combined mass of the particle and the antiparticle. Small amounts of antimatter have been isolated in laboratory conditions, but no one has yet succeeded in creating a controlled a matter/antimatter reaction, or even an uncontrolled reaction of significant size. RELATED TERMS: inertia http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci865905,00.html electron http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci212046,00.html proton http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214458,00.html neutron http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214457,00.html atom http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci211610,00.html element http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci859557,00.html ______________________ SELECTED LINKS CERN, where the Web originated, offers an abundance of information about matter, antimatter, and particle physics. http://public.web.cern.ch/Public/toc.html UniSci, a news service, offers an article, "Why So Little Anti-matter? Physicists Just Don't Know." http://unisci.com/stories/20011/0219014.htm HowStuffWorks.com tells "How Atoms Work." http://www.howstuffworks.com/atom.htm ______________________ QUIZ #32 | Securing Your Network How much do you know about network security? Take our latest quiz and find out. >> Take the quiz http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci857673,00.html ______________________ CROSSWORD PUZZLE #6 | Wireless Improve your flexible thinking skills. Print out the puzzle and keep it nearby to work on throughout your day! http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci861329,00.html ______________________ REAL-LIFE CHALLENGE #19 | XP Pro or Win2k Pro? It's upgrade time. The branch office manager at Company X would like his staff to have "the best", which he thinks is XP Pro. The head of IT thinks that Win2k Pro is a better choice, but admits he's never worked with XP. Can you advise? http://whatis.discussions.techtarget.com/WebX?[EMAIL PROTECTED]@.1dcfae0e/169 ______________________________ RECENT ADDITIONS AND UPDATES [1] matter http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci865252,00.html [2] core router http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci865184,00.html [3] vertical interval time code http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci865178,00.html [4] plasma http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci864603,00.html [5] instruction http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci212356,00.html ____________________________________________________________________ ::::::::::::::::::: WHATIS.COM CONTACTS ::::::::::::::::::: LOWELL THING, Site Editor ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ____________________________________________________________________ MARGARET ROUSE, Associate Editor ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___________________________________________________________________ :::::::::::::::::::: ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER ::::::::::::::::::::: Published by TechTarget (http://www.techtarget.com) TechTarget - The Most Targeted IT Media Copyright 2002, All Rights Reserved. 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