by Bryan Uber

Created on: August 08, 2010

In order to understand the properties of matter, one must understand the forms in which matter can exist. There are four states of matter; solid, liquid, gas and plasma.  Each state of matter is formed from the molecules in which it is made. In order to reduce complication, the states in which matter exist will be of the main focus. This is because there are many elements in different states of matter under the identical conditions. For example, if an ice cube, mercury, and liquid nitrogen were in isolated containers, in a room at 20 C, there would be three different states of matter present. The ice cube would be the solid state of water. Mercury would be in a liquid state and liquid nitrogen would be a gas. The reason for each compound existing in a different state is because of the energy exposed to the compound.

To define the state of matter as a solid, the compound would have a molecular structure that is more ridged then that of a compound in a higher state of matter. If the solid state has a molecular structure that is more ridged this does not mean that the compound is more dense. An example of this is an ice cube. The state of an ice cube is a solid but it is less dense than the liquid state of the same compound, which is why the ice cube floats in water. To have a compound form a solid structure, energy will have to be removed. An example of how energy could be removed from a compound to form a solid state of matter, would be the ideal gas law, PV=nRT (P=pressure, V=volume, n= number of molecules, R= gas constant, T= temperature). If one were to expose liquid water, at room temperature (20 C), to a quick reduction in pressure, the temperature, i.e. energy, will be reduced. If there was a negative pressure present for a length of time, by the zeroth law of thermodynamics, the liquid water will transform to the solid state of matter, ice.

The second state of matter is called liquid and it has many properties.  To define the state of matter as being a liquid, one would assume that the compound must have similar properties to water. This assumption is accurate however, it is does not incorporate viscosity. Viscosity is a property of a liquid that defines how 'thick' the liquid will be. An example of viscosity is to pour maple syrup under two different conditions, hot  and room temperature. One would observe that the maple syrup poured at a higher temperature would have similar characteristics of water. However, when on poured the maple

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