Metastable State

metastable state, in physics and chemistry, particular excited state of an atom, nucleus, or other system that has a longer lifetime than the ordinary excited states and that generally has a shorter lifetime than the lowest, often stable, energy state, called the ground state. A metastable state may thus be considered a kind of temporary energy trap or a somewhat stable intermediate stage of a system the energy of which may be lost in discrete amounts. In quantum mechanical terms, transitions from metastable states are “forbidden” and are much less probable than the “allowed” transitions from other excited states.

There are many examples of metastable states in atomic and nuclear systems. Analysis of atomic spectra often reveals metastable states as relatively final energy levels to which electrons have cascaded from higher energy levels in the act of generating light. Light energy trapped for a time in metastable mercury atoms accounts for the many photochemical reactions of this element. Metastable states of atomic nuclei give rise to nuclear isomers that differ—in energy content and mode of radioactive decay—from other nuclei of the same element.

Metastable atoms often lose their stored energy by collision with other atoms before they can radiate it, but in the rarefied upper atmosphere of Earth, in which atoms travel a longer time before collision, radiation from metastable oxygen atoms seems to account for the characteristic green colour of the aurora borealis and aurora australis. Metastable nuclei lose their energy by radioactive decay, usually by gamma radiation.