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Intermediate State
Intermediate state may refer to: Science * an intermediate chemical state * Virtual state, a very short-lived, unobservable quantum state * Meissner effect, the expulsion of a magnetic field from a superconductor during its transition to the superconducting state * Mesophase, is a state of matter between solid and liquid Religion * Intermediate state (Christianity), a person's existence between death and the universal resurrection, in some forms of Christianity * Bardo, an intermediate state between death and rebirth in some schools of Buddhism * Gandharva, in Buddhism, being in the intermediate state between death and rebirth * Araf, an intermediate state between Heaven and Hell for those who are balanced in their good works and sins * Barzakh, in Islam, a phase between an individual's death and their resurrection * Purgatory, an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification, in some Christian denominations and Islam See also * Afterlife, or life after ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chemical State
The chemical state of a chemical element is due to its electronic, chemical and physical properties as it exists in combination with itself or a group of one or more other elements. A chemical state is often defined as an "oxidation state" when referring to metal cations. When referring to organic materials, a chemical state is usually defined as a chemical group, which is a group of several elements bonded together. Material scientists, solid state physicists, analytical chemists, surface scientists and spectroscopists describe or characterize the chemical, physical and/or electronic nature of the surface or the bulk regions of a material as having or existing as one or more chemical states. Overview The chemical state set comprises and encompasses these subordinate groups and entities: chemical species, functional group, anion, cation, oxidation state, chemical compound and elemental forms of an element. This term or phrase is commonly used when interpreting data from analytical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Afterlife
The afterlife or life after death is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's Stream of consciousness (psychology), stream of consciousness or Personal identity, identity continues to exist after the death of their physical body. The surviving essential aspect varies between belief systems; it may be some partial element, or the entire soul or spirit, which carries with it one's personal identity. In some views, this continued existence takes place in a Supernatural, spiritual realm, while in others, the individual may be reborn into World#Religion, this world and begin the life cycle over again in a process referred to as reincarnation, likely with no memory of what they have done in the past. In this latter view, such rebirths and deaths may take place over and over again continuously until the individual gains entry to a spiritual realm or otherworld. Major views on the afterlife derive from religion, Western esotericism, esotericism, and metaphy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quantum Superposition
Quantum superposition is a fundamental principle of quantum mechanics that states that linear combinations of solutions to the Schrödinger equation are also solutions of the Schrödinger equation. This follows from the fact that the Schrödinger equation is a linear differential equation in time and position. More precisely, the state of a system is given by a linear combination of all the eigenfunctions of the Schrödinger equation governing that system. An example is a qubit used in quantum information processing. A qubit state is most generally a superposition of the basis states , 0 \rangle and , 1 \rangle: : , \Psi \rangle = c_0, 0\rangle + c_1, 1\rangle, where , \Psi \rangle is the quantum state of the qubit, and , 0 \rangle, , 1 \rangle denote particular solutions to the Schrödinger equation in Dirac notation weighted by the two probability amplitudes c_0 and c_1 that both are complex numbers. Here , 0 \rangle corresponds to the classical 0 bit, and , 1 \r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Population Inversion
In physics, specifically statistical mechanics, a population inversion occurs when a system (such as a group of atoms or molecules) exists in a state in which more members of the system are in higher, excited states than in lower, unexcited energy states. It is called an "inversion" because in many familiar and commonly encountered physical systems in thermal equilibrium, this is not possible. This concept is of fundamental importance in laser science because the production of a population inversion is a necessary step in the workings of a standard laser. Boltzmann distributions and thermal equilibrium To understand the concept of a population inversion, it is necessary to understand some thermodynamics and the way that light interacts with matter. To do so, it is useful to consider a very simple assembly of atoms forming a laser medium. Assume there is a group of ''N'' atoms, each of which is capable of being in one of two energy states: either # The ''ground state'', with ene ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesoscopic Physics
Mesoscopic physics is a subdiscipline of condensed matter physics that deals with materials of an intermediate size. These materials range in size between the nanoscale for a quantity of atoms (such as a molecule) and of materials measuring micrometres. The lower limit can also be defined as being the size of individual atoms. At the microscopic scale are bulk materials. Both mesoscopic and macroscopic objects contain many atoms. Whereas average properties derived from constituent materials describe macroscopic objects, as they usually obey the laws of classical mechanics, a mesoscopic object, by contrast, is affected by thermal fluctuations around the average, and its electronic behavior may require modeling at the level of quantum mechanics. A macroscopic electronic device, when scaled down to a meso-size, starts revealing quantum mechanical properties. For example, at the macroscopic level the conductance of a wire increases continuously with its diameter. However, at the me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merit (Buddhism)
Merit (; ) is a concept considered fundamental to Buddhist ethics. It is a beneficial and protective force which accumulates as a result of good deeds, acts, or thoughts. Merit-making is important to Buddhist practice: merit brings good and agreeable results, determines the quality of the next life and contributes to a person's growth towards enlightenment. In addition, merit is also shared with a deceased loved one, in order to help the deceased in their new existence. Despite modernization, merit-making remains essential in traditional Buddhist countries and has had a significant impact on the rural economies in these countries. Merit is connected with the notions of purity and goodness. Before Buddhism, merit was used with regard to ancestor worship, but in Buddhism it gained a more general ethical meaning. Merit is a force that results from good deeds done; it is capable of attracting good circumstances in a person's life, as well as improving the person's mind and inne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Limbo
The unofficial term Limbo (, or , referring to the edge of Hell) is the afterlife condition in medieval Catholic theology, of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the Damned. However, it has become the general term to refer to nothing between time and space in general. Some medieval theologians of Western Europe described the underworld (" hell", "hades", "infernum") as divided into three distinct parts: Hell of the Damned,''Catholic Encyclopedia'': Hell "However, in the New Testament the term Gehenna is used more frequently in preference to hades, as a name for the place of punishment of the damned. ..held in abomination by the Jews, who, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Last Judgment
The Last Judgment is a concept found across the Abrahamic religions and the '' Frashokereti'' of Zoroastrianism. Christianity considers the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to entail the final judgment by God of all people who have ever lived, resulting in the salvation of a few and the damnation of many. Some Christian denominations believe most people will be saved, some believe most people will be damned, and some believe the number of the saved and of the damned is unknown. The concept of the Last Judgment is found in all the canonical gospels, particularly in the Gospel of Matthew. The Christian tradition is also followed by Islam, where it is mentioned in many chapters of the Quran, according to some interpretations. The Last Judgment has inspired numerous artistic depictions, including painting, sculpture and evangelical work. In Judaism In Judaism, beliefs vary. Rosh HaShanah is sometimes referred to as a 'day of judgement', but it is not conceptualized as ''the'' Day ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Purgatory
In Christianity, Purgatory (, borrowed into English language, English via Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman and Old French) is a passing Intermediate state (Christianity), intermediate state after physical death for purifying or purging a soul. A common analogy is dross being removed from gold in a furnace. In Magisterium, Catholic doctrine, purgatory refers to the final cleansing of those who died in the State of Grace, and leaves in them only "the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven"; it is entirely different from the punishment of Damnation, the damned and is not related to the forgiveness of sins for salvation. A forgiven person can be freed from his "unhealthy attachment to creatures" by Indulgence#Catholic teaching, fervent charity in this world, and otherwise by the non-vindictive "temporal (i.e. non-eternal) punishment" of purgatory. In late medieval times, metaphors of time, place and fire were frequently adopted. Catherine of Genoa (fl. 1500) re-framed the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virtual State
In quantum physics, a virtual state is a very short-lived, unobservable quantum state. In many quantum processes a virtual state is an intermediate state, sometimes described as "imaginary" in a multi-step process that mediates otherwise forbidden transitions. Since virtual states are not eigenfunctions of any operator, normal parameters such as occupation, energy and lifetime need to be qualified. No measurement of a system will show one to be occupied, but they still have lifetimes derived from uncertainty relations. While each virtual state has an associated energy, no direct measurement of its energy is possible but various approaches have been used to make some measurements (for example see and related work on virtual state spectroscopy) or extract other parameters using measurement techniques that depend upon the virtual state's lifetime. The concept is quite general and can be used to predict and describe experimental results in many areas including Raman spectroscopy, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barzakh
Barzakh (Arabic: برزخ) is an Arabic word meaning "obstacle", "hindrance", "separation", or "barrier". In Islam, it denotes a place separating the living from the hereafter or a phase/"stage" between an individual's death and their resurrection in "the Hereafter". It is also considered as a place where souls rest until the day of judgement. It bears resemblance to the intermediate state in Christianity. Some scholars believe that good Muslims will have a heavenly experience during this time, and sinners will experience suffering; while some Shia scholars believe the experience will not be like the physical pain or pleasure of the temporal world. Scholars have different definitions of ''Barzakh''. According to Ghazali, Barzakh may be the place for those who go neither to hell nor to heaven. According to Ibn Hazm, Barzakh is also the place for unborn souls, which are elsewhere described as residing in the lowest of the seven heavens, where an angel blows them into the wombs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Araf (Islam)
In Islam, al-A'raf () is a separator realm or borderland between Jannah (heaven) and Jahannam (hell), inhabited by those who are evenly balanced in their sins and virtues, they are not entirely evil nor are they entirely good. This place may be described as a kind of benevolent purgatory with privation but without suffering. Some hadith depict that rather than this place being a middle ground purgatory in between Heaven and Hell, it is actually just the top layer of Hell, the least severe layer. The word is literally translated as "the heights" in English. The realm is described as a high curtain between hell and paradise. Ibn Kathir described A'raf as a wall that contains a gate. In this high wall lived people who witness the terror of hell and the beauty of paradise. They yearn to enter paradise, but their sins and virtues are evenly balanced. Yet with the mercy of God, they will be among the last people to enter the paradise. ''A'raf'' is described in the Quran in sura ''Al- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
