You hear the liquid water rushing beneath the boat. You notice the puddles from yesterday’s rain have disappeared. The water has evaporated into the air around you. As the boat approaches the iceberg, you reach out to feel a solid wall of water. How does the water that surrounds you change form?
Using different instruments, scientists have learned that all matter is made up of tiny particles. These particles are arranged in different ways and can also move. The arrangement and movement of the particles in matter determine its form, or state.
You can’t REALLY see the particles. These drawings show what they might look like.
Usually substances on Earth exist naturally in just one state. Can you name a substance that you can find naturally in all three states?
Did you guess water? You can find water naturally in all three forms. Liquid water is the same substance as the solid called ice and the gas called water vapor.
A solid is matter that has a definite shape and usually takes up a definite amount of space. Its particles are closely packed together. The particles have some energy. They move back and forth, but they do not change places with each other.
Water takes the shape of any container into which you pour it. If you pour the water in the container onto a table, its shape changes, but the amount of water stays the same. Matter that does not have a definite shape, but takes up a definite amount of space, is a liquid.
Like a liquid, a gas takes the shape of its container. Unlike a liquid, a gas expands to fill whatever space is available. A gas always fills the container it is in. The particles in a gas are very far apart from one another and move in all directions.
The arrangement and movement of the particles determines whether the matter is a solid, liquid, or gas!
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