SNBP World School, Rahatani, Pune

2022-23

Grade 9 Chemistry

Chapter 1 States of matter

Solids, Liquids & Gases
Solids

• Solids have a fixed volume and shape and they have a high density
• The atoms vibrate in position but can’t change location
• The particles are packed very closely together in a fixed and regular pattern

Liquids

• Liquids also have a fixed volume but adopt the shape of the container
• They are generally less dense than solids (an exception is water), but much
denser than gases
• The particles move and slide past each other which is why liquids adopt the
shape of the container and also why they are able to flow freely

Gases

• Gases do not have a fixed volume, and, like liquids, take up the shape of the
container
• Gases have a very low density
• Since there is a lot of space between the particles, gases can be compressed
into a much smaller volume
• The particles are far apart and move randomly and quickly (around 500 m/s) in all
directions
• They collide with each other and with the sides of the container (this is
how pressure is created inside a can of gas)

Summary of the Properties of Solids, Liquids and Gases

State Changes
Melting

• Melting is when a solid changes into a liquid

• Requires heat energy which transforms into kinetic energy, allowing the particles
to move
• Occurs at a specific temperature known as the melting point (m.p.)

Boiling

• Boiling is when a liquid changes into a gas

• Requires heat which causes bubbles of gas to form below the surface of a liquid,
allowing for liquid particles to escape from the surface and within the liquid
• Occurs at a specific temperature known as the boiling point (b.p.)

Freezing

• Freezing is when a liquid changes into a solid

• This is the reverse of melting and occurs at exactly the same temperature as
melting, hence the melting point and freezing point of a pure substance are the
same. Water, for example, freezes and melts at 0 ºC
• Requires a significant decrease in temperature (or loss of thermal energy) and
occurs at a specific temperature

Evaporation

• Evaporation occurs when a liquid changes into a gas and occurs over a range of
temperatures
• Evaporation occurs only at the surface of liquids where high energy particles can
escape from the liquid's surface at low temperatures, below the b.p. of the liquid
• The larger the surface area and the warmer the liquid surface, the more quickly a
liquid can evaporate
Condensation

• Condensation occurs when a gas changes into a liquid on cooling and it takes
place over a range of temperatures
• When a gas is cooled its particles lose energy and when they bump into each
other they lack the energy to bounce away again, instead they group together to
form a liquid

Sublimation

• When a solid changes directly into a gas, without going through the liquid stage
• This happens to only a few solids such as iodine or solid carbon dioxide
• The reverse reaction also happens and is called deposition or desublimation

• When substances are heated, the particles absorb thermal energy which is
converted into kinetic energy. This is the basis of the kinetic theory of matter
• Heating a solid causes its particles to vibrate more and as the temperature
increases, they vibrate so much that the solid expands until the structure breaks
and the solid melts
• On further heating, the now liquid substance expands more and some particles at
the surface gain sufficient energy to overcome the intermolecular forces
and evaporate
• When the b.p. temperature is reached, all the particles gain enough energy to
escape and the liquids boils
• These changes in state can be shown on a graph called a heating curve
• Cooling down a gas has the reverse effect and this would be called
a cooling curve
• These curves are used to show how changes in temperature affect changes of
state
Pressure & Temperature in Gases

• Gaseous particles are in constant and random motion

• An increase in temperature increases the kinetic energy of each particle, as the
heat energy is transformed to kinetic energy, so they move faster
• Decreasing the temperature has the opposite effect, so the particles slow down
• As the temperature increases, the particles in the gas move faster, impacting the
container's walls more frequently
• The pressure that a gas creates inside a closed container is produced by the
gaseous particles hitting the inside walls of the container
• So when there is an increase in temperature this also causes an increase in
gas pressure

Moving particles of gas colliding with each other and the container walls

Brownian Motion

• Robert Brown was a Scottish botanist who first observed the random motions of
pollen grains in water seen under a microscope
• He first thought it might be due to the pollen grains being alive, so he boiled them
and repeated his observations which showed the same effect
• Although he could not provide an explanation for what he saw, it later provided
evidence for the existence of particles in motion in the kinetic theory of matter
• Brownian motion is the random movement of particles in a liquid or a gas
produced by large numbers of collisions with smaller, often invisible particles
Large particles show jerky and erratic movement caused by many collisions with
smaller particles

Diffusion

• This is the process by which different gases or different liquids mix and is due to
the random motion of their particles
• Diffusing particles move from an area of high concentration to an area of low
concentration
• Eventually the concentration of particles is even as they spread out to occupy all
of the available space
• Diffusion happens on its own and no energy input is required although it occurs
faster at higher temperatures.
•
•

Diffusion of potassium manganate(VII), KMnO4 , in water. After a few hours

the concentration of KMnO4 is the same throughout the solution

• Diffusion occurs much faster in gases than in liquids as gaseous particles move
much quicker than liquid particles
• At the same temperature, different gases do not diffuse at the same rate.
• This is due to the difference in their relative molecular masses
• Lighter gas particles can travel faster and hence further, therefore the lower its
relative mass the faster a gas will diffuse
• This can be demonstrated in the reaction between ammonia, NH 3, and hydrogen
chloride gas, HCl, inside a long glass tube
• Where the two gases meet a white smoke of ammonium chloride, NH 4Cl, is
formed
• This does not occur in the middle of the tube as you might expect, but much
closer to the end with the hydrogen chloride (Mr = 36.5) and the ammonia (Mr =
17) molecules are smaller and lighter