States of Matter

• Solids

  • Strong forces of attraction between the particles
  • Fixed position
  • Regular lattice structure
  • Particles vibrate in their position
  • Heating up a solid causes the particles to vibrate even more which weakens the forces between them, this will lead to the solid melting.
• Liquids

  • Weak forces of attraction
  • Free to move arround
  • Random arangement
  • Compact
  • Definite volume but not fixed shape
  • Flows to fit a container
  • Heating causes the particles to gain more energy and weaken bonds causing it to boil into a gas.
• Gases

  • The force of attraction is very weak, essentially free to move around
  • No definite shape or volume
  • Always fill a container
  • Constantly moving with random motion
  • Heating up a gas caused gas to expand or to increase in pressure
• Cooling gas down means they wont have enough energy to overcome the forces of attraction and bonds will start to form. This means it condenses back into a liquid.
• Cooling a liquid means the particles have less energy to overcome attraction, so more bonds form and the liquid is freezed into a solid.
• Issues with the particle model

  • Particles arent solid, inelastic spheres
  • Doesn't include any details of the forces between particles
  • Still a useful simplification that allow us to understand a complicated concept.