Changes in the States of Matter

The states of matter, depending on the situation, can stay in one form or change to another. The change comes
with extremes in temperature. These changes include: freezing, melting, boiling, evaporation, sublimation and
condensation.

Adding energy to matter causes a physical change. Energy is the capacity to cause change. Energy cannot be
created or destroyed, but can change from one form to the other. Adding heat energy, removing heat energy,
and changes in the different states of matter can occur as a result of changes in energy.

Melting 

Heat applied to a solid cause the particles to move faster, and more frequently. Under standard pressure, when a
certain temperature is reached–the melting point–the solid will begin to turn into a liquid. Even if you continue
to apply heat, the temperature will not rise above the melting point until the whole sample is liquefied. This is
because the heat energy is being used to convert the solid to liquid form.

The melting point of a pure substance can be determined to within 0.1 degrees C, the point at which the solid
and liquid phases are in equilibrium.

Freezing

The freezing point is the temperature at which a liquid substance is cooled enough to form a solid. Recall, that
when a substance is heated, the particles move faster and more frequently. Conversely, when a substance is
cooled, particle motion is slowed. In many substances, particles align in precise, geometric patterns to form
crystalline solids. Most liquids contract as they freeze, but water, however, expands.

The melting point of a substance is considered a distinguishing characteristic. The freezing point of a liquid is
not, because many factors can alter it; for example dissolved substances in the liquid will lower the freezing
point.

Sublimation

The conversion of a solid directly into a gas, without passing through the liquid stage is the process of
sublimation. This can only occur when the kinetic energy of the particles are greater than the atmospheric
pressure surrounding the particle.

Evaporation
 The process by which water changes from a liquid to a gas or vapor. It is sometimes referred to as
vapourisation.

For evaporation to occur, the particles in a liquid must have different energies. Some will have enough energy
to escape liquid form and become a gas. As a result, the remaining particles will have less energy than before,
and the liquid will cool. This is why evaporation has a cooling effect; for example, when you sweat, your body
cools down.

The rate of evaporation can be increased if the temperature of the liquid is increased; is air is moving over the
surface of the liquid or if the surface area of the liquid is increased.

Note that evaporation drives the water cycle.

Condensation

In this process, gas is changed to liquid. When gas particles do not have enough energy to remain as separate
particles in gas form, they come close together to form bonds. When this happens energy is released. This is
why steam burns skin when you come in contact with it, it is the heat energy that is being released that causes
this. The rate of condensation increases when the temperature of gas decreases.

Boiling

A liquid boils at a temperature at which its vapour pressure is equal to the pressure surrounding the liquid. This
is its boiling point. The normal boiling point of a liquid is the temperature at which its vapour pressure is equal
to one atmosphere.

As a liquid is heated, its vapour pressure increases until the vapour pressure equals the pressure surrounding the
liquid. Gas forms within the bulk liquid, as bubbles, and then rise to the surface where they burst and release the
gas. They don’t burst inside the liquid because the bubbles have enough vapour pressure to withstand
collapse. In order to form vapour, the molecules of the liquid must overcome the forces of attraction between
them. The temperature of a boiling liquid remains constant, even when more heat is added.

Factors that affect the boiling point are the pressure and the types of molecules. For pressure when the external
pressure is:

 less than one atmosphere, the boiling point of the liquid is lower than its normal boiling point.
 equal to one atmosphere, the boiling point of a liquid is called the normal boiling point.
 greater than one atmosphere, the boiling point of the liquid is greater than its normal boiling point.
For molecules, the type of molecules that make up a liquid determine its boiling point. If the inter-molecular
forces are strong then the boiling point will be high, if they are low then the boiling point will be low.

View the graph below which shows the rise in temperature, as more heat is added and its effects on the different
states of matter.
 Transfer of Thermal Energy
Thermal energy, as discussed in a previous post, is the kinetic energy possessed by the particles of a substance.
The transfer of thermal energy can occur in three ways:
 Conduction

 Convection

 Radiation

Conduction
Conduction occurs when two objects of different temperatures are in direct contact with one another. This is a
transfer of internal heat from the object/area of higher temperature to the object/area of lower temperature
due to the interaction of adjacent particles.
When heat is supplied to one end of an object, the particles gain kinetic energy. The particles then begin to
move more quickly and bump into the particles next to them, causing the kinetic energy to be transferred further
along.
As you might already know, solids are far better conductors than liquids and gases. This is because the particles
are right up against each other in close proximity in the fixed structure of the solid, so when heat is supplied to
one area of a solid, the particles will bump into each other far more frequently as they are packed so closely. In
gases (and liquids) however, the particles are further apart, and so they bump into one another far less
frequently, causing the heat to be conducted more slowly.
Conductivity varies between materials, being greatest for metallic solids, lower for nonmetallic solids, very low
for liquids, and extremely low for gases.
Air, being a gas, is a very poor conductor. Because of this, materials that contain air are also poor conductors,
and therefore, good insulators.
Take for example, expanded polystyrene which is used as an insulator. Expanded
polystyrene contains many air-filled pockets within it. When heat is transferred
through expanded polystyrene (EPS), it has to alternate through gas pocket and solid
material, so that the heat must be transferred through many interfaces causing slower
conduction.

Convection
Convection is the transfer of internal energy into or out of an object by the physical movement of a surrounding
fluid that transfers the internal energy along with its mass. It is the transfer of thermal energy due to the
movement of the particles in fluids.
This 'fluid motion' is caused by the difference in density between hotter regions of the fluid and cooler regions.
As you know, heat causes particles to move faster, and therefore causes substances to expand and become less
dense. The opposite happens when the substances lose heat. So, the less dense, hotter material rises as it is
heated, and the denser, cooler material from the fluid sinks to take its place. These motions are called
convection currents, and they continue for as long as there is a difference in temperatures within the fluid.
This temperature difference is most obvious when there is a source of heat on one side of the fluid, such as a
heater near the floor of a room. The warm air at the bottom continuously moves upward, while the cooler air
moves downward to be heated and then subsequently also moves upward.
You can see convection currents and how they occur in a pot of boiling water in the following diagram:
Convection also helps to explain sea and land breezes.

In the daytime, the sun heats up both the sea and the land. However, water has a higher specific heat capacity
than the land, so the land heats up faster and has a higher temperature than the sea. The land heats up the air
above it, causing that air to become less dense and rise. The cooler air over the sea rushes in to fill the space
made by the air that rose. This is sea breeze.

At night however, the sea becomes warmer than the land, so the process reverses. This is land breeze.
 Radiation
Radiation is the emission of energy as waves or particles or rays which does not require a medium. This
internal energy transfer is in the form of electromagnetic waves. For most bodies on the Earth, this radiation lies
in the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Radiant energy is either reflected or absorbed by matter.
Energy that is absorbed increases the kinetic energy of the particles of the object and also therefore the
temperature.
The sun's rays are transferred to the Earth via radiation. This is proof that no medium is needed for radiation to
occur, since outer space contains no gases or other media.

All objects are constantly emitting electromagnetic radiation , absorbing electromagnetic radiation and
reflecting it over a range of frequencies (based on their temperature). At lower temperatures, most of this
electromagnetic radiation is in the infrared range. At higher temperatures, objects may emit visible light.

We can tell based on the material and its temperature what electromagnetic (EM) radiation it is emitting or
absorbing.
When the rate of an object's emitted radiation > absorbed radiation, it means the object is cooling.
When the rate of an object's emitted radiation = absorbed radiation, it means the object is at the same
constant temperature as its surroundings.
When the rate of emitted radiation < absorbed radiation, it means the object is heating up.

Although objects constantly absorb and emit radiation, not all the radiation is absorbed because some of it is
reflected. So, the nature of the surface of any materials affects the relative amounts of radiation absorbed or
emitted.
Some materials are better absorbers or emitters than others based on the following factors:
1. texture of surface (rough, smooth)

2. nature of surface (shiny, dull)

3. colour of surface (black, white)

4. area of surface
Dull (matte), rough surfaces with dark colours and a large surface area are good absorbers and good
emitters of infrared radiation eg rough black surfaces.
Solar panels for hot water comprise of pipes carrying water to be heated set under a black surface to efficiently
absorb the infrared radiation from the Sun.
Hot water radiators should have a dark coloured, matte surface, (preferably black, but they usually don't use that
colour because they don't look very attractive!)
Smooth, shiny surfaces with light colours and small surface areas are bad absorbers and bad emitters of
infrared radiation, eg white gloss paint, silver surface used in vacuum flask ('thermos flask') to minimise heat
transfer by infrared radiation.
Light, shiny surfaces are good reflectors of infrared radiation, this maybe to keep heat in to keep things warm or
to minimise heat radiation in to keep things cool eg a vacuum flask.

Good emitters/absorbers are bad reflectors. Bad emitters/absorbers are good reflectors.