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A form of artificially created matter with properties not found in normal matter. The nucleus of a newmatter atom is modified so that the protons and neutrons bind in new ways, which influences the energy levels of the electrons and can lead to very different chemistry and physical properties.

After the First Sack, the Avout were forbidden from any further research into newmatter and the technology was restricted. It was not eliminated, however, and newmatter continues to be used in a variety of items ranging from tires with animated pictures to adaptive telescope mirrors. The three items allowed an Avout, the bolt, chord and sphere, are also made from New Matter.

Some newmatter elements are very similar in behavior to standard matter, others are very different. For example, certain newmatter oxygen atoms are similar enough to still form water (H2O) but bind weakly with hemoglobin in red blood cells. Also, due to the extreme specificity of enzymes and proteins, many biological functions are incompatible with newmatter.

Dictionary Entry[]

Newmatter

A solid, liquid, or gas having physical properties not found in naturally occurring elements or their compounds. These properties are traceable to the atomic nuclei. The process by which nuclei are assembled from smaller particles is called nucleosynthesis, and generally takes place inside of old stars. It is subject to physical laws that, in a manner of speaking, congealed into their current forms shortly after the inception of the cosmos. In the two centuries following the Reconstitution, these laws became sufficiently understood that it became possible for certain of the avout to carry out nucleosynthesis in their laboratories, and to do it according to sets of physical laws that differed slightly from those that are natural in this cosmos. Most newmatter proved to be of little practical value, but some variants were discovered and laboriously improved to produce substances that were unusually strong or supple or whose properties could be modulated under syntactical control. As part of the First Sack reforms, the avout were forbidden to carry out any further work on newmatter. Within the mathic world, it is still produced in small quantities to make bolts, chords, and spheres. Extramuros, it is used in a number of products.

The Dictionary, 4th Edition, A.R. 3000


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