States of Matter
Science: KS3, topic 2.1.2
Physical States
Particles can be arranged in lots of different ways, just like children in a playground or jigsaw pieces. Sometimes particles are close together, sometimes they are far apart. Sometimes they are almost still and sometimes they move about very fast.
Solids
- Particles are arranged in a regular pattern of lines and rows.
- The particles cannot move away from the position they are locked in, they just vibrate around a fixed position.
- The particles are very close together and they always touch.
Liquids
- The particles in a liquid can move freely over each other.
- The particles are arranged randomly.
- Not all of the particles touch, but each particle will be touching at least one other particle.
- There are small gaps between particles.
Gases
- The particles move randomly in all directions and travel very fast, zipping around.
- The particles do not touch and are very spread out.
- Sometimes gas particles bounce off each other (and off the walls of any container) if they happen to collide.
Test yourself on States of Matter
In which state of matter can particles NOT move away from their fixed positions, but only vibrate in place?
Which sentence correctly describes the particles in a gas?
Which statement about the particles in each state is correct?
Why can liquid particles flow and change shape to fit a container, but solid particles cannot?
A small amount of gas escapes from a bottle and quickly spreads to fill a whole room. Why does this happen?