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Unstable vs Metastable - What's the difference?

unstable | metastable |

As adjectives the difference between unstable and metastable

is that unstable is having a strong tendency to change while metastable is 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.

unstable

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Having a strong tendency to change.
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    • , title= Yesterday’s fuel , passage=The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania.
  • Fluctuating; not constant.
  • Fickle.
  • Unpredictable.
  • (chemistry) Readily decomposable.
  • (physics) Radioactive, especially with a short half-life.

    • Synonyms

    * instable (rare) * (not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over) precarious, rickety, shaky, tottering, unsafe, unsteady, wobbly

    Antonyms

    * stable

    Related terms

    * instability * unstability (rare)

    Anagrams

    *

    metastable

    English

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (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.

    • Anagrams

    *