Physics 6.

Particle Model
 Question Answer
1 What do we mean by An atom or molecule
"particle"?

2 Describe the particle Particles have a regular arrangement, have a

arrangement in a solid fixed position, touch each other and small
spaces

3 Describe the particle Particles touch each other but have no fixed
arrangement in a liquid position and slide past each other. Some
small spaces.

4 Describe the particle Particles are separated and move freely. Large
arrangement in a gas spaces.

5 What formula relates Density = Mass / volume

density, mass and
volume?

6 Define "physical A change in which intermolecular forces are

change" overcome or enabled but no chemical bonds
are broken or made.

7 Give a particle Particles are given enough energy (through

explanation for melting heating) to overcome the intermolecular
forces that hold them in a fixed position.

8 Give a particle Particles lose kinetic energy and move more

explanation for slowly, reducing spaces between particles and
freezing allowing intermolecular forces to hold
particles together

9 What is condensing? When a gas cools to form a liquid

10 What is boiling? When a liquid is heated to form a gas

11 What is evaporation? When a liquid slowly forms a gas due to

kinetic energy of individual particles at the
surface

12 What is sublimation? When a solid turns straight to a gas or a gas

turns straight to a solid

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13 Define internal energy The total kinetic and potential energy of the
of an object particles in an object

14 Define "specific heat The amount of energy needed to raise the

capacity" temperature of 1kg by 1 degree C.

15 Define "latent heat" The energy needed to change state "up"

16 Describe the The higher the temperature the higher the

relationship between pressure
gas temperature and
pressure at constant
volume

17 What is "potential Energy particles have because they've had

energy of particles"? work done on them

18 What is "kinetic energy Energy particles have because they are

of particles"? moving

19 What does "to do work To move them further apart against their
on particles" mean? intermolecular attraction

20 How would you find Find its mass, time how long it takes to raise
the specific heat temp of sample, find energy as power X time,
capacity of a material? then use shc formula (given)

21 How would you Volume = length X base X height. Find mass

calculate the density of using a mass balance, then use density =
a cuboid? mass / volume

22 How would you find Volume = displaced water into a measuring

the density of an cylinder. Find mass using mass balance, then
irregular object? use density = mass/volume

Name Symbol Factor To convert to

standard units:
Tera T 1012 × by

2
 Giga G 109 × by
Mega M 106 × by 1,000,000
kilo k 103 × by 1,000

centi c 10-2 ÷ by 100

milli m 10-3 ÷ by 1,000
micro μ 10-6 ÷ by 1,000,000
nano n 10-9 ÷ by 1,000,000,000

Kinetic theory

All matter (solids, liquids and gases) is made of atoms. In many substances
these atoms are joined as molecules or giant structures of ionic lattices. For the
purposes of this unit, we will refer to all of these constituents of matter: atoms,
molecules and ions, as “particles”.

Particles in materials are held together by attractive forces. In a

solid, the particles are held firmly together because these forces
are strong. If we want to melt a solid to turn it into a liquid, we
must put energy in in order to do work against these forces and
overcome them, to separate the particles from their fixed
positions in rows. This is why you need to heat a solid to melt
it. A similar situation arises if you want to boil a liquid to
create a gas: you must put energy in in order to overcome the
forces holding the particles together in a liquid. This energy is
transferred to the substance by heating.

You have already learned about energy stores. You will have seen how energy is
stored when objects move and also in the thermal store of objects. In fact
thermal energy stores are just a special version of kinetic energy stores. When
you heat a material, its particles gain energy.

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Scientists talk about internal energy of an object or material. This is the energy
stored because of the arrangement and motion of the particles. These two
aspects are called potential energy and kinetic energy respectively.

Consider a block of ice at -20°C. If we put it in a sealed tin and heat it with a
Bunsen flame, its temperature will increase until it reaches 0°C. At this point it
will melt. After all the ice has melted to form liquid water, the water
temperature now increases until it reaches 100°C – at this point it will begin to
boil and become a gas (water vapour). At each of these stages, energy is stored
in the internal energy of the ice/water/steam.

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Questions for thinking:

1. What things are included in the term “particles” for this unit?
2. Why are the particles in a solid held firmly together?
3. Why must we heat a solid if we want to melt it?
4. Why are the particles in a liquid held together?
5. Why can liquids flow whereas solids can’t?
6. Why must you heat a liquid in order to boil it?
7. Compare the arrangement of particles in a solid, liquid and gas.
8. Compare the motion of particles in a solid, liquid and gas.
9. What are the two components of internal energy called?
10.Which component is to do with the temperature of the material?
11.Which component is to do with the state of the material?
12.State three possible temperatures for a block of ice
13.State three possible temperatures for a beaker of water
14.State three possible temperatures for a can of water vapour.

Density

All matter is made of atoms and molecules. We can use the term “particles” to
include atoms and molecules.

Density is a measure of how heavy a certain volume of a material is. Iron is more
dense than wood and wood is more dense than air. The equation for density is:

Most materials become less dense as

they are heated. Heating gives
particles more kinetic energy, and as
they move faster particles become

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further apart from each other, effectively decreasing the density of the material
as a higher proportion of it is empty space.

Different states of a
material have different
densities because of
particle arrangement:

Most materials are most

dense when they are in a
solid form. For example, solid iron is more dense than liquid iron, and liquid iron
is more dense than gaseous iron. The main exception to this rule is water, which
because it has unusually shaped molecules, actually forms a less dense crystal
when it is in solid state (frozen) than when it is a liquid:

Questions:

1. What is the formula for density?

2. Draw the particle arrangements for solids, liquids and gases.
3. Describe the particle arrangements for solids, liquids and gases.
4. Explain why most materials are more dense in their solid form.
5. Explain why heating a block of metal causes it to become less dense.
6. Calculate the density of a block of metal with mass 1.2kg and volume
0.3m3.
7. If a volume of 5.6m3 a liquid has mass 6.9kg, find its density.
8. If the density of aluminium is 2,712kg/m3, find the volume of 13,800kg.
9. Calculate the volume of 240,000kg of barium if the density of barium is
3594kg/m3.

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 10. What mass of germanium takes up 4570m3 of space if the density of
germanium is 5323kg/m3?
11. If the density of manganese is 7440kg/m3, find the mass of 35,000 m3.

Extension:

1. Find the number of particles in the box labelled “solid” on the previous
page.
2. Estimate the number of particles in the cube labelled “liquid” above.
3. The graph shows how the density of air varies with temperature.

a. De
scr
ibe the relationship between temperature and density for air.
b. Find the density of air at -50ᵒC.
c. What is the mass of 5m3 of air at 150ᵒC?
d. What is the volume of 15kg of air at 50ᵒC?

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Practical techniques: Finding the density of objects

To find the density of any object you need to know the value of two things: the
mass and the volume. The mass should always be found using digital scales –
be sure to press “TARE” to avoid zero errors on the scales.

The method for measuring volume depends on the type of object you have. If
you have a regular shaped solid, you can use your formulas for 3D shapes to
find the volume:

2.5 x 1.8 x 4.2 = 18.9cm3

Then just use the formula:

Density = mass/ volume

Density = 5.67/18.9 = 0.3g/cm3

If you have an irregularly shaped object, you need to use the displacement
method to find volume:

Fill a eureka can with water up to the spout hole. Place carefully onto a tripod
and top up the water if necessary. Place a measuring cylinder underneath the
spout and gently lower the object in, collecting the displaced water in the

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measuring cylinder. Read the volume of water at eye level to find the volume of
the object.

= 30 ml = 30cm

Then just use your formula with the mass you measured using the digital scales:

Density = mass/volume

Density = 5.67/30 = = 0.189g/cm3

Questions:

1. Describe the method for finding the density of a block of metal.

2. Describe the method for finding the density of a chess piece.
3. If you don’t press TARE on your digital scales and there is some dust on
there, what kind of error will you get?
4. If you don’t bend down to read measuring cylinder at eye level, what
kind of error do you get?
5. If a leak from the ceiling drips water into your measuring cylinder, what
kind of error do you get?

Changes of State

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There are three main states of matter:
solid, liquid and gas. A substance can
be in the solid, the liquid or the
gaseous state depending on the
energy its particles have. For
example, oxygen is a gas at room
temperature but if we remove energy
from its particles by cooling it, it will
condense into a liquid and then
freeze into a solid. Different
substances do this at different temperatures.

Mass is conserved when a substance changes state. If you start with 1kg of
oxygen gas and cool it, you will have 1kg of liquid oxygen.

Changes of state are physical changes as opposed to chemical changes. An

example of a chemical change is combustion. Combustion is a chemical change
because chemical bonds are broken and formed during the change. It is
impossible to reverse combustion and recover the original properties of the
reactants. In a physical change such as melting or freezing however, no
chemical bonds are broken or formed. Rather, intermolecular forces are
overcome or experienced as particles are moved further or closer together as a
result of their kinetic energy. If the process is reversed then the properties of
the material are identical to those before the state change.

Questions:

1. State the three main states of matter.

2. Copy and complete the table:

State From __ to Add or What What happens

change __ remove happens to to
energy? particle intermolecular
movement? forces?
Melting From solid
to liquid
Freezing Remove
Boiling Increases
Condensing Increased

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 3. What does it mean when we say “mass is conserved” in a state change?
4. Grace has 2.5kg of ice and melts it in a sealed container. What is the
mass of the water when she has finished?
5. Define a physical change.

6. Anish boils 18g of water and collects the gas but 12% of the water
remains in the beaker as droplets. What is the mass of the collected gas?
7. Is photosynthesis a chemical or physical change? Explain your answer.
8. What is “sublimation”?
9. Which of the following is not a physical change: sublimation; burning;
evaporating
10. An ice cube is dropped on the floor and first melts, then evaporates.
Describe what happens in terms of particle arrangement and motion.
11. Why does the bathroom mirror get cloudy when we have a shower?
12. Some houses have heated bathroom mirrors that do not get cloudy
when you have a shower. Explain why heated mirrors do not get cloudy.
13. A liquid is poured into a tray and then frozen. Noah thinks the mass of
the frozen solid will be greater than the mass of the liquid. Ajay thinks
the masses will be the same. Who is right? Explain your answer.

Internal energy and changes of state

-273°C is absolute zero: the coldest temperature possible: particles have no

motion whatsoever and are as close together in the solid arrangement as it is
possible to be. Scientists have actually never been able to achieve absolute zero,
because vibrations just from somebody walking down the street a mile away
can transfer energy to the particles and cause them to vibrate slightly, causing
the temperature of the material to rise.

Consider a solid at absolute zero: -273֯C. If the particles have absolutely no

motion and they are as close together as possible, then they have zero energy.

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In reality, nothing is ever at absolute zero. All objects have particles that are
moving and are not as close as possible, although they may still be touching.

This applies to all solids, liquids, and gasses: in other words, all the matter in the
universe.

The total internal energy stored by the particles in an object has two
components:

1) Energy the particles have because of their arrangement. This is called

potential energy.
2) Energy the particles have because of their motion. This is called kinetic
energy.

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At all temperatures higher than absolute zero, particles have kinetic energy and
move. Their motion depends on how much energy they have and the state of
matter they are in. The particles also have potential energy. When a liquid turns
into a solid, heat energy is given out – this is called latent heat. So the fact that
a liquid can be turned into a solid means the particles in a liquid have potential
energy. Another way of saying this is that particles in, for example, a liquid have
had work done on them for them to change state from a solid: an object that
has had work done on it has potential energy.

Questions for thinking

1. What is absolute zero?

2. Why do all objects and materials above absolute zero have an internal
energy store?
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 3. What is kinetic energy store of particles?
4. What is potential energy store of particles?
5. Which energy does increasing temperature affect?
6. Which energy store of particles does changing state (e.g. melting) affect?
7. Why are melting and boiling classed as “doing work” on the particles?

Heat and temperature

When we heat ice over time, we might expect its temperature to increase.
However what we actually find is a bit more complicated than that:

Initially, as the ice is heated, its temperature does increase. The thermal energy
is causing the particles in the solid ice to vibrate about their fixed positions
faster. In other words, the energy is being used to increase the particles’ kinetic
energy. However, when we get to 0֯C, the temperature ceases to rise: instead it
remains constant at 0 even though we continue to add thermal energy. This is
because the solid ice is melting: the energy is being used to change the
arrangement of the particles – in other words, it is being used to increase their
potential energy.

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Questions:

1. Explain the difference between heat and temperature.

2. Copy the graph above and explain its shape
3. Heating an object can increase its temperature. State three things that
the increase in temperature depends on.
4. Jade says that “thermal energy is just one version of kinetic energy”.
Explain what she means by this.

Specific Latent Heat

The graph shows the temperature changes when ice is heated:

In the topic “Energy” we looked at specific heat capacity. Specific heat capacity
is related to the principle that if you add heat energy to a material, its
temperature will rise. There are some special cases where this does not apply:
during changes of state. The graph shows how the temperature of water
changes as heat energy is added to it. The water starts off at -40ᵒC (ice) and its
temperature increases until it reaches 0ᵒC. Here it remains constant while more
energy is added to it. This is melting: the heat energy that is being added is
being used to overcome the intermolecular forces of attraction that hold the

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water particles in their solid arrangement. So the heat energy cannot be used to
increase the temperature. After the right amount of energy has been added, all
the intermolecular forces have been overcome and the ice has fully melted into
liquid water. So the temperature increases again as more heat energy is added.
A similar thing happens at the next state change: boiling.

The energy used in the state change is called latent heat.

The specific latent heat of a material is the energy absorbed or released when
1kg of the material changes state without a change in temperature.

The energy supplied for the state change does increase the internal energy of
the material but it doesn’t increase the temperature. This is because the
particles do not move faster (gain kinetic energy) but because they are
changing their arrangement to a higher state they are gaining potential energy.

Energy required for change of state = mass x specific latent heat

This formula is on the physics equation sheet.

Specific latent heat of fusion = energy needed for melting

Specific latent heat of vaporisation = energy needed for boiling

Questions:

1. Define specific latent heat.

2. What is specific latent heat of fusion?
3. What is specific latent heat of vapourisation?

4. Copy the graph and

explain what is
happening at stages A-B;
B-C; C-D; D-E, E-F. Use
the following words:
solid, liquid, gas, state
change, melting, boiling,
particles, internal energy,

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 kinetic energy, potential energy, latent heat of fusion, latent heat of
vaporisation.
5. Calculate the energy needed to melt 0.49kg of aluminium . The specific
latent heat of fusion of aluminium is 399,000 J/kg.
6. If the specific latent heat of vaporisation of aluminium is 10,500,000 J/kg,
find the energy needed to vapourise 0.49kg of aluminium.
7. Find the specific latent heat of fusion of element Y if 405,000J of energy
are used to melt 0.6kg of the element.
8. What is the specific latent heat of vaporisation of element Z if 2,670J of
energy are needed to boil 510g of the element?
9. What mass of lead can be melted using 58kJ of energy? The specific
latent heat of fusion of lead is 25,000 J/kg.
10. What mass of helium can be boiled using 84,000J of energy? The specific
latent heat of vaporisation of helium is 21,000J/kg.
11. Explain the difference between specific heat capacity and specific latent
heat. Do not just write the definitions.
12. A gas was cooled and its
temperature recorded over time. The
graph shows the results: Explain what
is happening at each stage in the
graph. Use the words solid, liquid,
gas, state change, melting, boiling,
particles, internal energy, kinetic
energy, potential energy, latent heat
of fusion, latent heat of vaporisation.

13. The diagram shows two sets of apparatus for investigating temperature
during state change. State which apparatus is better and explain why.

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14. The graph shows the temperature for melted stearic acid as it cools. How
many facts can you find from this graph?

15. Plot the points to show the

change in temperature for Energy input (J) Temperature (ᵒC)
element X as it is heated. 0 -60
Label the stages and draw a 50 -40
100 -20
particle diagram for each one.
150 -20
200 -20
250 +5
300 +30
350 +30
400 +30
450 +30
500 +50 19
 16. The specific latent heat of fusion for element X is 40J/kg, yet this is not
shown on the graph. Suggest a reason for this discrepancy.

Gas Pressure

The particles of a gas are in constant

random motion. The temperature of a
gas is determined by the average
kinetic energy of the particles.

All gases exert a pressure on the walls

of their container. This is caused by the
particles colliding with the container
walls.

If the volume of a gas is kept the same, for example by keeping it in a sealed
container of constant size, and the temperature is increased, for example by
holding the container over a heat source, then the gas pressure will increase.
This is due to the particles gaining kinetic energy and therefore colliding
with the container walls more frequently and with greater force. If you took
a sealed can with a gas, e.g. water vapour, and heated it, the increasing
pressure would cause it to explode.

The explanation of phenomena using the motion of particles is known as kinetic

theory. When we examine the relationship between two variables, such as
temperature and pressure, we keep all other variables, such as volume, fixed
(constant) so that the relationship is clear to see.

Questions:

1. What is temperature a measure of?

2. What causes gas pressure? Copy the diagram that shows this and label it
with: gas particle, container wall, collision
3. At a constant volume, what is the relationship between a gas’ pressure
and temperature?

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4. Use kinetic theory to explain why the relationship is as you have
described. Use the words kinetic energy, collisions, frequent, forceful,
pressure.
5. In the diagram above for “hot gas”, why are the arrows bigger? Copy the
diagram for cool and hot gas.
6. Consider a balloon filled with helium gas. If the balloon bursts, what will
happen to the volume of the gas? Explain why.
7. If you put an inflated balloon in the freezer, it shrinks. Explain why.
8. Explain why gases are easy to compress.
9. Why can heating a sealed container cause it to explode? Use the words
kinetic energy, collisions, frequent, forceful, pressure.
10. What is the relationship between temperature and pressure at constant
volume?
11. The graph shows how pressure varies
with temperature for a gas, X. Copy the
graph and use it to support your answer
to (7).

12. If you kept the mass of a gas the same but

decreased its volume, what would happen to its
pressure? Copy the diagram and describe and
explain what would happen.

13. The graph shows how pressure of a gas varies with volume at constant
temperature. Write a quantitative description of
the relationship between pressure and volume
and give evidence from the graph. Use kinetic
theory to explain why this relationship exists.

14. Sketch a graph to show the relationship between temperature and

volume of a gas at constant pressure. Use kinetic theory to explain why

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this relationship is as it is. Consider the frequency of collisions but not
their force.

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