Matter

As matter gains form, it sheds heat; as matter gains substance, it becomes more expensive.

MATTER (Lat. ma­te­ria ma­te­ri­alis), that of which all things in the uni­verse are com­posed, in­clud­ing mat­ter. It is there­fore re­dun­dant and fu­tile to in­quire in­to the com­po­si­tion of mat­ter it­self. Nev­er­the­less, much sci­en­tif­ic re­search to­day is squan­dered on the fruit­less re­duc­tio ad re­duc­tum of di­vid­ing par­ti­cles of mat­ter in­to ev­er small­er ones.

Classifications

Every per­cept of mat­ter may be placed, ac­cord­ing to its sta­tive at­tributes of sub­stance and form, in­to one of five dis­crete cat­e­gories or paradigms, which are de­scribed as fol­lows.

States of Matter

1. Solid­u­ous is called that mat­ter which is ful­ly pos­sessed of both sub­stance and form; in­clud­ing all items, ar­ti­cles, ob­jects, ar­ti­facts, en­ti­ties, as­sem­blages, con­trivances, con­trap­tions, con­for­ma­tions, con­ge­la­tions, and rocks.
   
2. Liq­uidi­cal is that which is im­paired of form, yet com­plete in sub­stance; in­clud­ing all so­lu­tions, pota­tions, dis­til­la­tions, se­cre­tions, aque­ous ex­trac­tions, juices, ton­ics, ooz­ings, seep­ages, drain­ables, and flu­via, as well as pure wa­ter at am­bi­ent tem­per­a­ture.
   
3. Gasif­er­ous is that which is des­ti­tute of form, yet com­plete in sub­stance; in­clud­ing all at­mo­spher­ics, aro­mat­ics, mi­as­ma­ta, eruc­ta­tions, pneu­mat­ics, em­a­na­tions, rar­efac­tions, fra­grances, airs, va­pors, par­tic­u­lates, and fumes.
   
4. Plas­ti­cial is that which is ful­ly pos­sessed of form but im­paired of sub­stance; in­clud­ing all sim­u­lants, lu­mi­nants, fab­ri­cants, phos­pho­rents, syn­thet­ics, plas­mat­ics, poly­morphs, skeuo­morphs, meta­morphs, pseu­do­morphs, in­sub­stan­ti­a­tions, rep­re­sen­ta­tions, re­pro­duc­tions, retro­duc­tions, façades, and apoc­rypha.
   
5. Vir­tu­al­i­tive is that which is pos­sessed of form but de­void of sub­stance; in­clud­ing all ab­strac­tions, ap­pari­tions, in­tu­itions, il­lu­sions, in­spi­ra­tions, ide­als, vi­sions, vis­i­ta­tions, hal­lu­ci­na­tions, man­i­fes­ta­tions, spir­its, specters, in­cor­por­e­ities, mus­es, myths, phan­tasms, and cy­ber­net­ics.

Solid­u­ous mat­ter is the most read­i­ly ap­pre­hend­ed and eas­i­ly dis­tin­guished of all the stan­dard paradigms. Liq­uidi­cal mat­ter is ap­pre­hen­si­ble sole­ly in the ag­gre­gate, while gasif­er­ous mat­ter con­founds all rea­son­able dis­tinc­tions; many gasifers are ex­treme­ly tox­ic, yet their very pres­ence may not be de­tect­ed by the sens­es un­til long af­ter death.