You will now create an outline for your final assignment.
In this lesson you learned the different phases of matter—solid, liquid and gas—and how thermal energy can change that matter from one phase to another by making the atoms and molecules move faster. You took notes on almost every page of the lesson, and now it's time to use them, as well as any other evidence presented, to compose your own multimedia project, or write a final essay, in which you describe and summarize all of that phase-change knowledge you've collected.
As you compose your project, try to think of ways to connect, either through a multimedia project or in writing, the ways in which different phases are related to each other. One idea would be to write a story or comic strip that follows a particle that starts out in a solid and eventually ends up in a gas as thermal energy is added. Make sure to include definitions, comparisons, and descriptions.
If you create a multimedia project that requires a social-media, video, or audio platform that is not directly offered by this lesson, you will need to post it to a file-sharing site (Dropbox, Google Drive, and Microsoft Teams are examples) and then upload the link to the Write It plug-in. Here are some ideas for what you might want to do:
Use Organize It to outline your ideas. You can review your notes in “My Work” as well as any of the following videos and glossary terms.
Organize It!: Your work has been submitted.
| Keyboard Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Space | Pause/Play video playback |
| Enter | Pause/Play video playback |
| m | Mute/Unmute video volume |
| Up and Down arrows | Increase and decrease volume by 10% |
| Right and Left arrows | Seek forward or backward by 5 seconds |
| 0-9 | Fast seek to x% of the video. |
| f | Enter or exit fullscreen. (Note: To exit fullscreen in flash press the Esc key. |
| c | Press c to toggle captions on or off |
Imagine a cool glass of soda on a hot day. Besides being refreshing, what you have in your hand is an example of the three main phases of matter. Solid, liquid & gas (bubbles).
These phases of matter are the different ways atoms or molecules can physically behave depending on the amount of energy present.
Molecules with low energy are in a solid state. They are as close as they can get to are close to one another and they are rigid- they don’t move much at all. Therefore a solid has a defined shape, and takes up a defined amount of space (volume).
In a liquid state the molecules have more energy and can move and flow more freely, so that the shape of a liquid is variable. But the molecules stick close together, so that the amount of space it occupies- the volume- is defined. One cup of water is one cup of water, even if the shape varies.
But in a gaseous state, shape and volume go out the window, literally. Molecules in a gaseous state have high energy and move around randomly, take up as much space as they are given and shape themselves to whatever “container” they are in- whether it is a little jar or the Earth’s atmosphere.
So technically speaking, even if the glass is half empty (of liquid), it’s still totally full (liquid + gas).
Atom: The basic building block for all matter. Boil: To reach, through the addition of thermal energy, the temperature at which a liquid turns into a gas.
Gas: Matter that has no defined size or shape.
Liquid: Matter that takes up a defined amount of space but takes the shape of its container.
Matter: Any physical substance that takes up space and has mass.
Melt: To reach, through the addition of thermal energy, the temperature at which a liquid becomes a solid.
Molecule: Two or more atoms that are attached together.
| Keyboard Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Space | Pause/Play video playback |
| Enter | Pause/Play video playback |
| m | Mute/Unmute video volume |
| Up and Down arrows | Increase and decrease volume by 10% |
| Right and Left arrows | Seek forward or backward by 5 seconds |
| 0-9 | Fast seek to x% of the video. |
| f | Enter or exit fullscreen. (Note: To exit fullscreen in flash press the Esc key. |
| c | Press c to toggle captions on or off |
This is a water molecule. You can find it in different phases -- as part of a cube of ice (solid), in a glass of water (liquid), or perhaps a steamier situation (cup of tea) (gas). Regardless of the phase, it’s all water. So what makes the difference between it being solid, liquid or gas?
The answer: Heat (also known as "Thermal Energy"). If you want an ice cube to melt, you add heat. Seems simple enough, but what is actually happening to the molecules?
When heat enters the ice cube it causes the barely moving molecules to loosen up a bit. Add enough heat, and the molecules have enough energy to break the forces keeping them rigid, and they begin to move past each other: Ta-da! Our solid has turned into a liquid. Once a liquid, turn up the heat further, and the molecules move a lot, breaking away from the attractive forces that keep the liquid together, and they fly away as gas.
And this isn’t just the case for water. Almost all matter can solidify, liquefy and gasify. But depending on the type of matter, it takes different amounts of gaining or losing heat to get the job done. So let’s be glad we’re not sitting around waiting for gold to melt. (melting point: 1,948 degree F)
Particle: A minute, or tiny, portion of matter.
Phase of Matter: The state (solid, liquid or gas) in which matter exists, depending on the behavior of atoms and molecules, which is determined by the amount of thermal energy received.
Solid: Matter that has a defined state and takes up a definite amount of space.
Thermal Energy: Energy related to the motion of atoms and molecules; also called "heat."
Volume: The amount of space something takes up. Solids and liquids both take up a defined amount of space, so they both have a defined, or fixed, volume.