Chemistry: stable and metastable

Tutoring chemistry, definitions can be intriguing. The tutor mentions two with an idea of how to distinguish them.

Let’s imagine we agree that “stable” means “it won’t change on its own.” What does metastable mean, then?

A book on a table is in a stable state from the point of view that it will be like that when you return. However, if someone intervenes, pushing it off the table so it falls to the floor, then it won’t return, by itself, to being on top of the table. Moreover, it takes much less energy to cause it to fall to the floor than to return it from there to the table top.

Therefore, one could argue that the true stable state of the book is being on the floor, while its metastable state is being on the table.

Source:

geochemsoc.org

Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.

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