Phases of Matter
Take a look around you. You don't
have to look far to see an incredible assortment of stuff-everyday, ordinary
things like a book, a pencil, a piece a paper, or a white cloud outside
your window. Although all of these things look different, they all have
one thing in common. They are all a form of matter. But, what
is matter?
Well, matter is the stuff that is all around you! A more formal definition of matter is anything that takes up space and has mass.
Now that we have an understanding of what matter is, let's take a look at the many properties of matter. Matter can have physical properties. Physical properties are characteristics that a sample of matter exhibits without any change in its identity.
Here are some examples of physical properties:
Therefore, an important concept to remember about matter is that it can change in two ways, it can change physically and chemically.
Now that we know how matter can change, let's take a closer look at the phases of matter.
There are four main phases of matter, which
are:
SOLIDS-
One of the main characteristics of solids is that they hold their own shape.
Therefore, if you put a solid in a container, it will not change its shape.
You can move the container all around and the solid will still not change
its shape! Another characteristic of solids is that they are very
difficult to compress. When you compress any type of matter, you
are applying a force a certain amount of matter into a smaller space.
If we take a closer look at the atoms of a solid, they are very close together
and have very little energy.
LIQUIDS-
One of the main characters of liquids is that they hold the shape of the
container it is placed in. In other words, it will fill up as much
space of the container as it possibly can. Liquids are also difficult
to compress. The atoms in a liquid are not as close together compared
to a solid. Therefore, the energy of a liquid is much greater than
a solid but less than that of a liquid.
GASES-
One of the main characters of gases are that they they fill a container
of any size or shape. Therefore, gas is everywhere! In fact,
the gas that surrounds the earth is called the atmosphere. The atoms
of a gas are really spread out and are full of energy. As a result,
they are always zipping around.
PLASMAS-This
phase of matter is very similar to gases, but the atoms are different because
they are made up of free elections and ions of the element. In fact,
these electrons and ions have little or no order which why they are similar
to gases. This is the most common phase of matter.
Elements and compounds can move from one phase to another phase when special physical forces are present. One of example of a special physical force is temperature. When temperature changes, the phases can change. In general, as temperature increases, matter moves around a lot more. This is one of the assumptions of the kinetic molecular theory.
Phase describes a physical state of matter. Therefore, things only move form one phase to another by physical, not chemical means. If energy is added, like increasing temperature or increasing pressure, or if energy is taken away such as decreasing the pressure or freezing something, are forces that can change the phases of matter.
An example when an increase in pressure
causes water to change into a gas and then back into liquid is in the phenomena
of the Crushing Can-Why does the can collapse?
Let's take a closer look at the phases of water.
If you have ever seen a pot of water boiling on a stove, you have probably
have noticed that there is water vapor over the top of the boiling pot
of water. This same water vapor can than condense and become a drop
of water. You have most likely observe water vapor condense into
a drop of water on a mirror after you have taken a steamy hot bath.
Water as a liquid can also freeze if you put it in the freezer. No
matter what phase it is in, it will always have the same chemical property.
In other words, the changes in phases that water undergoes does not change
its composition.