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Metastability

Metastability

For dynamical systems, metastability is the system's ability to persist in a quasi-stable state other than its state of least energy.

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In physics and chemistry, a system is said to be in a metastable state if it has a higher energy than at its grounded state and it can be stuck in that higher-energy state for an unknown/indefinite period of time.

Example #1: Ball on a hilltop

For example, a ball that is sitting on a hilltop and not accelerating is in a metastable state. The ball would have less energy if it was resting at the bottom of the hill on either side, but it won't reach that state unless some force acts on it, such as a gust of wind or a push.

Example #2: Super-cooled water

Another example is super-cooled water, which can exist in a liquid metastable state even at temperatures below its freezing point until a nucleation event occurs so that the water molecules can crystallize and transform into ice.

Metastability in a congested state of a network works differently if the network is congested enough. New calls are unlikely to flow through, and because of this it will require a second circuit which increases congestion further.

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Further Resources

Title
Author
Link
Type
Date

Metastable state | chemistry and physics

https://www.britannica.com/science/metastable-state

Web

Supercooled Water - Explained!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph8xusY3GTM

March 22, 2011

Supercooled water escaping from metastability

Multiple

https://www.nature.com/articles/srep07230

Web

References

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Wikidata ID
Q849516

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