Eastern Star Academy, Inc.

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT

Name: ________________________________________________________________
Grade Level: Grade 8 Learning Modality: Modular Distance Learning
Subject: Science 8 Subject Teacher: Peter D. Cloma Jr., LPT
The Kinetic Theory: A Microscopic Description of Matter
The kinetic molecular theory of matter offers a description of the microscopic properties
of atoms (or molecules) and their interactions, leading to observable macroscopic
properties (such as pressure, volume, temperature). An application of the theory is that
it helps to explain why matter exists in different phases (solid, liquid, and gas) and how
matter can change from one phase to the next.

The three phases of matter: Notice that the spacing between atoms or molecules
increases as we move from a description of the solid phase to the gaseous one.

The kinetic molecular theory of matter states that:

 The matter is made up of particles that are constantly moving.

 All particles have energy, but the energy varies depending on the
temperature the sample of matter is in. This in turn determines whether the
substance exists in the solid, liquid, or gaseous state. Molecules in the solid
phase have the least amount of energy, while gas particles have the
greatest amount of energy.
 The temperature of a substance is a measure of the average kinetic energy
of the particles.
 A phase change may occur when the energy of the particles is changed.
 There are spaces between particles of matter. The average amount of
space between molecules gets progressively larger as a sample of matter
moves from the solid to the liquid and gas phases.
 There are attractive forces between atoms/molecules, and these become
stronger as the particles move closer together. These attractive forces are
called intermolecular forces.
Read the following carefully:
https://www.chem.purdue.edu/gchelp/liquids/character.html\
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-chemistry/chapter/kinetic-molecular-
theory-of-matter/
Thermal Energy and Heat Shards of ice fly from the sculptor’s chisel. As the
crowd looks on, a swan slowly emerges from a massive block of ice. As the day wears
on, however, drops of water begin to fall from the sculpture. Drip by drip, the sculpture is
transformed into a puddle of liquid water. What makes matter change from one state to
another? To answer this
question, you need to
think about the particles
that make up matter.
Energy Simply stated
energy is the ability to do
work or cause change.
The energy of motion is
called kinetic energy.
Particles within matter
are in constant motion.
The amount of motion of
these particles depends
on the kinetic energy
they possess. Particles
with more kinetic energy move faster and farther apart. Particles with less energy move
more slowly and stay closer together. The total kinetic energy of all the particles in a
sample of matter is called thermal energy. Thermal energy, an extensive property,
depends on the number of particles in a substance as well as the amount of energy
each particle has. If either the number of particles or the amount of energy in each
particle changes, the thermal energy of the sample changes. With identically sized
samples, the warmer substance has the greater thermal energy. In Figure 7, the
particles of hot water from the hot spring have more thermal energy than the particles of
snow on the surrounding ground.
 Temperature Not all of the
particles in a sample of matter have
the same amount of energy. Some
have more energy than others. The
average kinetic energy of the
individual particles is the
temperature, an intensive property, of
the substance. You can find an
average by adding up a group of
numbers and dividing the total by the
number of items in the group. For
example, the average of the numbers
2, 4, 8, and 10 is (2 +4+ 8 +10) 4 = 6.
Temperature is different from thermal
energy because thermal energy is a
total and temperature is an average.
You know that the iced tea is colder
than the hot tea, as shown in Figure
8. Stated differently, the temperature of iced tea is lower than the temperature of hot
tea. You also could say that the average kinetic energy of the particles in the iced tea is
less than the average kinetic energy of the particles in the hot tea. Heat When a warm
object is brought near a cooler object, thermal energy will be transferred from the
warmer object to the cooler one. The movement of thermal energy from a substance at
a higher temperature to one at a lower temperature is called heat. When a substance is
heated, it gains thermal energy. Therefore, its particles move faster and its temperature
rises. When a substance is cooled, it loses thermal energy, which causes its particles to
move more slowly and its temperature to drop.
Specific Heat As you study more science, you will discover that water has many
unique properties. One of those is the amount of heat required to increase the
temperature of the water as compared to most other substances. The specific heat of a
substance is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 g of a substance
1°C. Substances that have low specific heat, such as most metals and the sand in
Figure 9, heat up and cool down quickly because they require only small amounts of
heat to cause their
temperatures to rise. A
substance with high
specific heat, such as
the water in Figure 9,
heats up and cools down
slowly because a much
larger quantity of heat is
required to cause its
temperature to rise or fall
by the same amount.
Changes Between the
Solid and Liquid States Matter can change from one state to another when thermal
energy is absorbed or released. This change is known as change of state. The graph in
Figure 11 shows the changes in temperature as thermal energy is gradually added to a
container of ice. Melting As the ice in Figure 11 is heated, it absorbs thermal energy and
its temperature rises. At some point, the temperature stops rising and the ice begins to
change into liquid water. The change from the solid state to the liquid state is called
melting. The temperature at which a substance changes from a solid to a liquid is called
the melting point. The melting point of water is 0°C. Amorphous solids, such as rubber
and glass, don’t melt in the same way as crystalline solids. Because they don’t have
crystal structures to break down, these solids get softer and softer as they are heated,
as you can see in Figure
 Freezing The process of melting a crystalline solid can be reversed if the liquid is
cooled. The change from the liquid state to the solid state is called freezing. As the
liquid cools, it loses thermal energy. As a result, its particles slow down and come closer
together. Attractive forces begin to trap particles, and the crystals of a solid begin to
form. As you can see in Figure 11, freezing and melting are opposite processes. The
temperature at which a substance changes from the liquid state to the solid state is
called the freezing point. The freezing point of the liquid state of a substance is the
same temperature as the melting point of the solid state. For example, solid water melts
at 0°C and liquid water freezes at 0°C. During freezing, the temperature of a substance
remains constant while the particles in the liquid form a crystalline solid. Because
particles in a liquid have more energy than particles in a solid, energy is released during
freezing. This energy is released into the surroundings. After all of the liquid has
become a solid, the temperature begins to decrease again.

Changes Between the Liquid and Gas States After an early morning rain, you
and your friends enjoy stomping through the puddles left behind. But later that afternoon
when you head out to run through the puddles once more, the puddles are gone. The
liquid water in the puddles changed into a gas. Matter changes between the liquid and
gas states through vaporization and condensation. Vaporization As liquid water is
heated, its temperature rises until it reaches 100°C. At this point, liquid water changes
into water vapor. The change from a liquid to a gas is known as vaporization (vay puh
ruh ZAY shun). You can see in Figure 11 that the temperature of the substance does
not change during vaporization. However, the substance absorbs thermal energy. The
additional energy causes the particles to move faster until they have enough energy to
escape the liquid as gas particles. Two forms of vaporization exist. Vaporization that
takes place below the surface of a liquid is called boiling. When a liquid boils, bubbles
form within the liquid and rise to the surface, as shown in Figure 12. The temperature at
which a liquid boils is called the boiling point. The boiling point of water is 100°C.
Vaporization that takes place at the surface of a liquid is called evaporation.
Evaporation, which occurs at temperatures below the boiling point, explains how
puddles dry up. Imagine that you could watch individual water molecules in a puddle.
You would notice that the molecules move at different speeds. Although the
temperature of the water is constant, remember that temperature is a measure of the
average kinetic energy of the molecules. Some of the fastest-moving molecules
overcome the attractive forces of other molecules and escape from the surface of the
water.
 Location of Molecules It takes more than speed for water molecules to escape
the liquid state. During evaporation, these faster molecules also must be near the
surface, heading in the right direction, and they must avoid hitting other water molecules
as they leave. With the faster particles evaporating from the surface of a liquid, the
particles that remain are the slower, cooler ones. Evaporation cools the liquid and
anything near the liquid. You experience this cooling effect when perspiration
evaporates from your skin. Condensation Pour a nice, cold glass of lemonade and place

it on the table for a half hour on a warm day. When you come back to take a drink, the
outside of the glass will be covered by drops of water, as shown in Figure 13. What
happened? As a gas cools, its particles slow down. When particles move slowly enough
for their attractions to bring them together, droplets of liquid form. This process, which is
the opposite of vaporization, is called condensation. As a gas condenses to a liquid, it
releases the thermal energy it absorbed to become a gas. During this process, the
temperature of the substance does not change. The decrease in energy changes the
arrangement of particles. After the change of state is complete, the temperature
continues to drop, as you saw in Figure 11
What energy change occurs during condensation? Condensation formed the
droplets of water on the outside of your glass of lemonade. In the same way, water
vapor in the atmosphere condenses to form the liquid water droplets in clouds. When
the droplets become large enough, they can fall to the ground as rain.