States of Matter
📋 What it is
Solid, liquid, gas — the same substance, differing in how its particles are packed and moving.
🗣️ Coach says
Ice, water, and steam are all H₂O — the difference is particle behaviour. In a solid, particles lock in place; in a liquid, they slide past each other; in a gas, they zoom around freely. Add heat and they speed up and spread out.
🧠 Memory hook
Solid = locked, liquid = sliding, gas = zooming. Heat spreads them out.
😂 Giggle
What did the magnet say to the iron filing?
"I find you very attractive!"
😲 Whoa!
Water is rare in expanding when it freezes — that’s why ice floats and why water bottles crack in the freezer.
✅ Quick check: When steam cools back into water, is it a new substance?
Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.
No — it’s the same substance (H₂O); only the state changed as the particles lost energy and packed closer.
Phase changes rearrange particles but don’t change the substance.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Breathe onto a cold window. The fog is water vapour cooling into liquid droplets — a gas-to-liquid change.