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Definition of Metastable
1. Adjective. (of physical systems) continuing in its present state of equilibrium unless sufficiently disturbed to pass to a more stable state of equilibrium.
Definition of Metastable
1. Adjective. (context: physics chemistry) Of or pertaining to a physical or chemical state that is relatively long-lived, but may decay to a lower energy state when slightly perturbed or through a quantum transition. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Metastable
1. [adj]
Medical Definition of Metastable
1. 1. Of uncertain stability; in a condition to pass into another phase when slightly disturbed; e.g., water, when cooled below the freezing point may remain liquid but will at once congeal if a piece of ice is added. 2. Denoting the excited condition of the nucleus of a radionuclide isomer that reaches a lower energy state by the process of isomeric transition decay without changing its atomic number or weight; e.g., 99m99mTc → 9999Tc + g. Origin: meta-+ L. Stabilis, stable (05 Mar 2000)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Metastable
Literary usage of Metastable
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Journal of the American Chemical Society by American Chemical Society (1915)
"The whole diagram, therefore, shows a succession of stable hydrates, a metastable
hydrate, true melting points, a metastable melting point, ..."
2. An Introduction to the Principles of Physical Chemistry from the Standpoint by Edward Wight Washburn (1921)
"The figure shows the existence of two stable and several metastable eutectic
points, and four stable and one metastable transition point. Problem 17. ..."
3. The Metallography of Steel and Cast Iron by Henry Marion Howe (1916)
"Hence we have the iron-cementite or metastable diagram and the iron-graphite or
stable diagram, the terms "metastable" and "stable" referring to the fact ..."
4. Thermodynamics for Engineers by James Alfred Ewing (1920)
"Comparison of metastable Expansion with Equilibrium Expansion. It may help to
make this matter intelligible if we compare more fully the adiabatic expansion ..."
5. The Phase Rule and Its Applications by Alexander Findlay (1908)
"At this temperature, not only is rhombic sulphur in a metastable condition, but
the liquid is also metastable, its vapour pressure being greater than that ..."
6. Metallography by Cecil Henry Desch (1922)
"CHAPTER X . UNDERCOOLING AND THE metastable STATE HITHERTO only systems in a
state of stable equilibrium have been, considered, the assumption being made ..."
7. Theoretical and Physical Chemistry by Samuel Lawrence Bigelow (1912)
"Small things upset the metastable equilibrium. The presence of the least particle
of the vapor prevents such superheating. Glass beads, platinum scrap, ..."
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