 The kinetic particle theory explains the properties of the different states of matter.

 The particles in solids, liquids and gases have different amounts of energy.
 They are arranged differently and move in different ways.
PARTICLE ARRANGEMENT AND MOVEMENT

SOLIDS

Properties Why they are like this

They have a fixed shape and
The particles cannot move from place to place
cannot flow
They cannot be compressed The particles are close together and have no space to
or squashed move into

LIQUIDS

Properties Why they are like this

They flow and take the shape
The particles are free to move around each other
of their container
They cannot be compressed The particles are close together and have no space to
or squashed move into

GASES

Properties Why they are like this

They flow and completely fill
The particles can move quickly in all directions
their container
They can be compressed or
The particles are far apart and have space to move into
squashed
THERMAL EXPANSION OF SOLIDS, LIQUIDS AND GASES
 All three states of matter (solid, liquid and gas) expand when heated. The atoms themselves
do not expand, but the volume they take up does.
o When a solid is heated
 Its atoms vibrate faster about their fixed points.
 The relative increase in the size of solids when heated is therefore small.
 Metal railway tracks have small gaps so that when the sun heats them,
the tracks expand into these gaps and don’t buckle.
o When a liquid is heated
 As the bonds between separate molecules are usually less tight they expand
more than solids.
 This is the principle behind liquid-in-glass thermometers. An increase in
temperature results in the expansion of the liquid which means it rises
up the glass.
o When a gas is heated
 Molecules within gases are further apart and weakly attracted to each other.
 Heat causes the molecules to move faster, (heat energy is converted to kinetic
energy) which means that the volume of a gas increases more than the volume
of a solid or liquid.
(*Note: However, gases that are contained in a fixed volume cannot expand - and so increases in
temperature result in increases in pressure.)
STATE CHANGES
 Solids melting into liquids
 Liquids boiling into gases
 Gases condensing into liquids
 Liquids freezing or solidifying into solids
EVAPORATION
Evaporation is sometimes confused with boiling. They both involve liquids turning to gases, but
evaporation is different because:
 It occurs at any temperature - not just the boiling point
 It only happens at the surface of the liquid - not throughout like boiling
 Boiling requires an energy input - whereas evaporation is the release of the molecules with
the highest energy
 Evaporation cools liquids as a result of this energy loss.
 Evaporation is increased by higher temperatures, a greater surface area or a draft over this
surface area.
(*NOTE: A substance must absorb heat energy so that it can melt or boil. The temperature of the
substance does not change during melting, boiling or freezing - even though energy is still being
transferred.)
HEATING CURVES AND COOLING CURVES
A heating curve is a graph showing the temperature
of a substance plotted against the amount of energy
it has absorbed and a cooling curve, which is
obtained when a substance cools down and changes
state.
 The temperature stays the same when a solid
is melting or a liquid is boiling (changing state)
during a change of state, even though heat
energy is being absorbed.
 The temperature also stays the same while a liquid freezes, even though heat energy is still
being released to the surroundings.
SPECIFIC LATENT HEAT
 The specific latent heat of a substance is a measure of how much heat energy is needed to
melt or boil it.
 It is the energy needed to melt or boil 1 kg of the substance.
 Different substances have different specific latent heats. The specific latent heat of a given
substance is different for boiling than it is for melting.
Substance Melting (kJ/kg) Boiling (kJ/kg)
Water 334 2260
Lead 23 871
Oxygen 13.9 213

INVESTIGATING LATENT HEAT

The latent heat of water can be determined in the following way:
 An electrical heater is used to melt ice for several minutes
 The electrical energy used is calculated by multiplying the power of the heater by time
 The mass of water melted is recorded and the relationship between energy input and mass is
calculated
 The amount of heat needed to change one kilogram of ice (the latent heat) is then determined
Here is the equation that relates energy to specific latent heat:
Energy (J) = Mass (kg) × Specific latent heat (J/kg) x Time
(*NOTE: You will probably find your values close, but not identical, to those in the table above.
Differences between your value and those in the table are likely to result from energy loss to the
room you worked in.)
 The latent heat of steam is determined using a calorimeter and steam generator.
 The latent heat of melting is sometimes called the latent heat of fusion, while the latent heat
of boiling is sometimes called the latent heat of vaporization.
BROWNIAN MOTION
 Particles in both liquids and gases (collectively called fluids)
move randomly. This is called Brownian motion.
 They do this because they are bombarded by the other moving
particles in the fluid. Larger particles can be moved by light,
fast-moving molecules.
 When pollen grains were looked through a microscope, they
were moving randomly in water. At this point, he could not
explain why this occurred.
o But in 1905, physicist Albert Einstein explained that the pollen grains were being
moved by individual water molecules. This confirmed that atoms and molecules did
exist, and provided evidence for particle theory.