THE STATES OF MATTER

These are 3 physical states of matter which are solid, liquid , and gases.
SOLID
The particles in solid are very closely packed and are held firmly together by cohesive forces or
strong attractive forces. The particles can only vibrate and rotate about their fixed positions
but they cannot translate or move i.e moving from one place to another because they held in
fixed positions by the cohesive forces. For the same reason, solids have definite shapes and
volumes , are incompressible , high density e.g ice block, sugar cube, chalk. etc.
LIQUID
The liquid particles are slightly further apart. They can move about because they have more
kinetic energy and weak cohesive forces or attractive forces than those of solids and are not
held in fixed position. They can vibrate, rotate and translate or move within a restricted space.
The liquid has no definite shape but definite volume, moderate high density e.g water, petrol,
kerosene, ethanol e.t.c
GASES
The particles of a gas are relatively far apart and are readily compressible. The cohesive forces
in a gas are negligible or no intermolecular forces holding them and the particles are free to
move about in all directions in random movement i.e translate at great speed with largest
amount of kinetic energy. A gas has no definite shape and occupies the whole volume of its
container (i.e no fixed volume), low density e.g oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide e.t.c

The arrangement of particles in solids, liquids and gases

 COMPARISON OF THE PHYYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE THREE STATES OF MATTER.

SOLID LIQUID GASES

Definite shape No definite shape No definite shape
Definite volume Definite volume No definite volume
Fixed mass Fixed mass Fixed mass
Particles vibrate and rotate Particles vibrate, rotate and Particles move about
about a fixed position move about within a constantly at great speed and
restricted place. at random.
Cannot be compressed Cannot be compressed Can be compressed
Very dense Less dense Less dense

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN SOLIDS AND LIQUIDS

- Both have fixed masses
- Both are in compressible
- Both have definite volumes
- Both their particles can vibrate and rotate

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN LIQUIDS AND GASES

- Both have no fixed shape
- Both their particles can translate

NOTE: Water H2O can exist in all three states of matter e.g ice, liquid, and steam.
CHANGE OF STATE
Change of state ( solid, liquid, gas) is brought about by a change in temperature i.e heating
and cooling. When a substance is heated, its constituent particles acquire kinetic energy.
When cooled, they become less energetic.
Below is an illustration of how matter can change from one state to another.
NOTE: All matter are interchangeable that is, it can change from one state to another.
1 Melting: This is a physical change from a solid to a liquid. When a solid is heated, the
particles acquire/gain more kinetic energy and vibrate more violently. At the melting
point of the solid, the vibrational forces overcome the cohesive forces or the binding
forces, leading to the sudden collapse of its crystalline structure. The solid is said to be
melted or liquefied.
The melting point (m.p) occurs at a specific temperature which is unique to each pure
solids.
NOTE: Impurities lower the melting point and increases the boiling point.
2 Evaporation : When liquid is heated, it changes into a gas/vapour at all temperature.
This occurs when more energetic particles than others in a given liquid comes near the
liquid surface, they can break away from the attractive forces of the other neighbouring
liquid molecules and escape into the space above the liquid. A few molecules with less
kinetic energy return to the liquid. The liquid is said to vapourised or evaporated.
3 Boiling: This is a change of a liquid to its gaseous/vapour state at a fixed or constant
temperature called boiling point. Boiling occurs when the saturated vapour pressure
(S.V.P) of the liquid is equal to atmosphere pressure, when this occurs, bubbles of
vapour appear in the liquid and rise to the surface. The liquid is then said to boil. Boiling
point is affected by pressure change and presence of temperature.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BOILING AND EVAPORATION

BOILING EVAPORATION
It occurs throughout the entire liquid Occurs at the liquid surface
It takes place at a fixed temperature It takes place at all temperatures
Gas/vapour bubbles are seen Gas vapour/bubbles are not seen
It has no cooling effect It has a cooling effect
It occurs using external source of heat Occurs using internal
Fast process Slow process.
Not affected by humidity Affected by humidity.
4 Condensation: This is when gas changes into a liquid as a result of cooling.
Condensation increases as the vapour pressure increases. When a gas is cooled, the
 particles lose energy. No energy is required for condensation to occur and it takes place
over a range of temperature e.g steam to water.
5 Freezing or solidification: This is the change of a liquid to a solid when its temperature
is lowered below freezing point i.e during cooling. When a liquid cools, it loses heat
energy to its surrounding leading to decrease in temperature. As cooling continues, the
liquid temperature keeps decreasing until it attains the freezing point of the liquid. The
liquid is then said to freeze or solidify.
NOTE: The freezing point of a liquid is the same as the melting point of a solid e.g water for
example freezes and melts at 00C.
6 Sublimation: This is when solid changes directly into a gas without passing through the
liquid. Some solids when heated changes directly to gas Sublimation occurs at specific
temperature which is unique for a pure substance e.g Iodine crystals to iodine vapour,
ammonium chloride, Sulphur, solid carbon dioxide etc.
7 Desublimation or deposition: This is the reverse of sublimation. This is the process by
which gas changes directly to solid .e g water vapour changes directly to ice without first
becoming a liquid.

Heating Curve
A heating curve shows the changes of state occurring when the temperature of ice is gradually
increased. A similar (but not) the same results when a gas is cooled gradually until it forms a
solid. This is known as cooling curve.

NOTE: The temperature remains constant during the change of state i.e. changes of melting at
temperature Tm and boiling at temp Tb. This is because all the energy absorbed in heating at
these temperatures (i.e. the heat gained equals to the heat absorbed, energy required to
reduce the intermolecular forces). In between the horizontal sections of the graph, you can see
that the energy input increases the kinetic energy of the particles and raising the temperature
of the substance.

KINETIC THEORY OF MATTER

Kinetic theory of matter states that matter is composed of very tiny particles which are
continually in motion and so possesses kinetic energy.
ASSUMPTIONS OF KINETIC THEORY OF GASES
1 The gas molecules move randomly in straight lines.
2 The collisions of the gas molecules are perfectly elastic i.e. no loss of energy
3 The attractive forces between the gas molecules are negligible.
4 The volume occupied by the gas molecules themselves are negligible compared to the
volume of the containers.
5 The temperature of the gas is a measure of average kinetic energy of the gas.
6 The collisions of the gas molecules with walls of the container results in the pressure
exerted by the gas.
PHENOMENA OR EVIDENCE SUPPORTING KINETIC THEORY OF MATTER.
The natural phenomena which support that matter is made up of very tiny particles which
are in constant motion include:
1 Brownian motion: This is the irregular or zig-zag movement of solute particles caused by
the bombardment of solute particle by the surrounding medium e.g smokes in air,
pollen grains in water.
2 Diffusion: This is the movement of solute particles from a region of higher concentration
to a region lower concentration until it is evenly distributed. Diffusion is the fastest in
gases than liquid and solids.
Gases > liquid > solids.
e.g Ink in water, hydrogen sulphide in air, smell of rotten egg in air.
NOTE: The smaller the molecular mass of a substance, the higher the rate of
diffusion.e.g oxygen gas O2= 16X2=32g and Hydrogen gas H2=1X2=2g
The hydrogen gas diffuses faster because of smaller molecular mass

3 Osmosis: Is the movement of solvent (water) particles from a region of lower

concentration to a region of higher concentration through a semi-permeable
membrane e.g Is the movement of water into salt or sugar solution.
4 Tyundal effect: This is the scattering of white light by a sol. Sol particles cause scattering
because they are heterogeneously dispersed i.e. The sol particles are larger than the
particles in the solution.

5 Dissolution and Dilution: The dissolution of solids in liquids and dilution of coloured
particles show that matter is made up of tiny particles.