Liquid solid what is this change called

In this lesson, students explore these different states of matter and their interactions. Differentiate between the three main states of matter. Plasma is sometimes referred to as a fourth state of matter. This means that a plasma has very different properties from those of an ordinary gas. Plasmas occur naturally in flames, lightning and auroras.

Other, more exotic states of matter can occur at extremely high energy levels or at extremely low temperatures, where atoms and molecules or their components arrange in unusual ways.

Scientists also sometimes distinguish between crystalline solids where the atoms and molecules are lined up in a regular pattern and glassy solids where the atoms and molecules are attached in a random fashion. Elements and compounds can move from one phase to another phase if energy is added or taken away. The state of matter can change when the temperature changes. Generally, as the temperature rises, matter moves to a more active state. For example, water vapour gas can condense and become a drop of water.

If you put that drop in the freezer, it would become a solid. No matter what phase it is in, it is always water — two atoms of hydrogen attached to one atom of oxygen H 2 0. In a liquid, the atoms and molecules are loosely bonded. They move around but stay close together. This may seem counterintuitive, since the temperature of the material does not rise during freezing except if the liquid is supercooled.

But heat must be continually removed from the freezing liquid, or the freezing process will stop. The energy released upon freezing, known as the enthalpy of fusion, is a latent heat and is exactly the same as the energy required to melt the same amount of the solid.

Boundless vets and curates high-quality, openly licensed content from around the Internet. This particular resource used the following sources:. Skip to main content. Liquids and Solids. Search for:. Liquid to Solid Phase Transition. Learning Objective Discuss the process of freezing. The freezing process compacts the molecules into a smaller space.

There are always exceptions in science. Water is special on many levels. It has more space between its molecules when it is frozen. The molecules organize in a specific arrangement that takes up more space than when they are all loosey-goosey in the liquid state.

Because the same number of molecules take up more space, solid water is less dense than liquid water. There are many other types of molecular organizations in solid water than we can talk about here.

Useful Reference Links. See the full list of chemistry topics at the site map! Current Page: Chem4Kids. They are paid advertisements and neither partners nor recommended web sites.