When the proper conditions are achieved, even multiple fermions, which normally cannot occupy the same quantum state, can reach a state known as a Fermionic condensate, where they all achieve the lowest-energy configuration possible. This is the sixth state of matter. (WOLFGANG KETTERLE / MIT / CENTER FOR ULTRACOLD ATOMS)

What Are The Fifth And Sixth States Of Matter?

Solid, liquid, and gas are the three everyone learns. Plasma is the fourth. But there are two more, and they’re fascinating.

How many states of matter are there? When you were young, you probably learned about the three that are most common to our experience: solid, liquid, and gas. All of these occur with regularity here on Earth’s surface: rocks and ices are solids, water and many oils are liquids, while the atmosphere that we breathe is a gas. These three common states of matter are all based on neutral atoms, however; restrictions that the Universe is not bound by.

If you bombard any atom with enough energy, you’ll kick the electrons off of it, creating an ionized plasma: the fourth state of matter. But there are two additional states of matter that exist: Bose-Einstein Condensates and Fermionic Condensates, the fifth and sixth states of matter. At present, they’re only achievable under extreme laboratory conditions, but they might play an important role in the Universe itself. Here’s why.

In the liquid phase, dropping the pressure significantly can result in a solid (ice) or a gas (water vapor), depending on what the temperature is and how rapidly the transition occurs. At sufficiently high temperatures, all atom-based matter will become an ionized plasma: the fourth state of matter. (WIKIMEDIA COMMONS / MATTHIEUMARECHAL)