The 4th State of Matter: The Delta State

Abstract

The corresponding states principle is an important concept wherein materials are interrelated. The base state of this principle, however, currently has no specific physical reality. Instead, it is a definition: a set of conditions at which the gas state reaches its maximum compression and liquid can not longer form; namely, the critical point. This article shows that a discrete, real-life, 3-D, base state is consistent with published and new experimental data. The mathematical analyses were conducted in the same manner for all the materials using literature data, a simple, consistent liquid state model and a simple, physically definable, cluster state model at the critical point. The base state described herein has molecules traveling together in well-defined small-hard or large-soft clusters. These clusters are dubbed the DELTA state since they occur almost exclusively in tetrahedral groups of four. From this straightforward, mathematical and intuitive methodology, the DELTA state emerged as the fourth state of matter: the base state of the corresponding states. As a result, the universal gas law requires inclusion of the DELTA state with the monomer state to be accurate. The critical point is the point at which liquid ceases to form. It is also the point at which only the DELTA state exists. Hence, the critical point is more appropriately called the DELTA POINT.