气体是四种基本物质状态之一（其他三种分别为固体、液体、等离子体）。气体可以由单个原子（如稀有气体）、一种元素组成的单质分子（如氧气）、多种元素组成化合物分子（如二氧化碳）等组成。气体混合物可以包括多种气体物质，比如空气。气体与液体和固体的显着区别就是气体粒子之间间隔很大。这种间隔使得人眼很难察觉到无色气体。气体与液体一样是流体：它可以流动，可变形。与液体不同的是气体可以被压缩。假如没有限制（容器或力场）的话，气体可以扩散，其体积不受限制，没有固定。气态物质的原子或分子相互之间可以自由运动。

气体的特性介于液体和等离子体之间，气体的温度不会超过等离子体，气体的温度下限为简并态夸克气体，现在也越来越受到重视。高密度的原子气体冷却到非常低的低温，可以依其统计特性分为玻色气体和费米气体，其他相态可以参照相态列表。

Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma). A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or compound molecules made from a variety of atoms (e.g. carbon dioxide). A gas mixture would contain a variety of pure gases much like the air. What distinguishes a gas from liquids and solids is the vast separation of the individual gas particles. This separation usually makes a colorless gas invisible to the human observer. The interaction of gas particles in the presence of electric and gravitational fields are considered negligible as indicated by the constant velocity vectors in the image. One type of commonly known gas is steam.