Question

How many states of matter are there in total?

Answer 1

Hint: Generally, we only know the four fundamental states of matter i.e., solid, liquid, gas and plasma. But there are several other states of matter which have been found theoretically and very few experimentally in space and time.

Complete step by step answer:
Considering all the studies that have been done till today, there are 22 states of matter in total described below:
Solid: a solid holds a definite shape and volume without a container and its particles are held very close to each other.
Liquid: a liquid is the state of matter which does not have a definite shape but has a definite volume and its volume does not change when pressure is applied to it.
Gas: it conforms to the shape of the container as well as it expands to fill it.
Plasma: plasma is the state of matter which has free particles that are charged, for example, electrons or any type of ions either positive or negative. They can generate the magnetic or electric field by themselves and thus respond well in the electromagnetic system.
Excitonium: this state of matter is made up of particles called excitons, which are formed by the process of quantum mechanical pairing. These are integers which obey Bose statistics in the low-density limit.
Electron degenerate matter: these are found in the core of the stars called a white dwarf. In this, the electrons are very strongly bonded to the atoms but are transferable to adjacent atoms.
Neutron degenerate matter: in this the fermions i.e., neutrons are found in the neutron stars and by the process of beta decay the electrons are forced to bond with the protons.
Strange matter: these are also found in the core of neutron stars. It is one of the forms of quark matter with up, down and strange quarks which are assumed to occur in neutron stars.
Photonic matter: inside a quantum nonlinear medium, there are photons which act like they have some mass and interact with one another and result in the formation of photonic molecules.
Quantum spin hall state: it is only a theoretical phase of matter derived from the quantum hall state of matter.
Bose-Einstein condensate: in this state of matter, there are several bosons which behave like a single wave or particle due to the same and collective quantum state of all the bosons.
Fermionic condensate: in this state, any two fermions behave as bosons and then these pairs enter the same quantum state without any kind of restriction.
Superconductivity: when certain substances are cooled below a critical temperature, there occurs a state of zero electrical resistance and expulsion of magnetic fields.
Superfluid: this is one of the kinds of cryogenic liquid, but at an extreme temperature where they face zero resistance against their flow.
Supersolid: it is similar to the superfluid in that it does not have to face any restriction in motion but it retains a rigid shape all the time.
Quantum spin liquid: it is a disordered state where quantum spins interact with each other and maintain a disorder to very low temperatures.
String net liquid: have closed loops, obeying the branching rules
Dropleton: quasiparticles which behave like the liquid.
Time crystal: a space-time crystal which changes its structure in space as well as time.
Rydberg polarons have large atoms at very low temperatures.
Quark gluons plasma: high energy state in which quarks are free to move and exist independently.
Rydberg matter: exotic phase, which is formed by the Rydberg atoms only.

Note: Solid, liquid, gas and plasma are called the four fundamental states of matter. Superfluid, Bose-Einstein condensate, Fermionic condensate, Rydberg molecule, Quantum Hall state, Photonic matter, Dropleton are called the low-temperature states. Electron degenerate, neutron degenerate, strange matter, quark matter are called high energy states.