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Module 2: States of Matter

Overview

Students experiment with dynamic models representing gaseous, solid and liquid phases, and observe how the distance between particles changes over time in each of the phases. They can change the amount of heat energy in the system and explore differences between various states of matter

Activities

• A Comparison of Liquid and Gas States
  
  
• Atomic Mass and Melting Point
  
  
• Crystals: Closely Packed Metals (3D dynamic)
  
  
• Distillation and the Role of Weak Forces
  
  
• Introduction to Crystals
  
  
• Latent Heat
  
  
• Liquid Crystals: the Mesophase between Solids and Liquids
  
  
• Mass Effect of Diffusion
  
  
• Phase Change
  
  
• Phase Change (SAM)
  
  
• Phase Separation
  
  
• Piezoelectric Effect
  
  
• Solids, Liquids, and Gases
  
  
• States of Matter (week-long unit)
  
  
• States of Matter Basics: Interatomic interactions: Towards state of matter (I) and (II)
  
  
• States of Matter Basics: Comparison of liquid and solid
  
  
• The Relationship Between Interaction Strength and Melting Point
  
  

Objectives and Goals

Students will be able to:

· Diagram the atomic level structure of solids, liquids and gases.

· Describe the behavior of particles in solids, liquids and gases.

· Predict if a substance is compressible.

· Compare the macroscopic characteristics with microscopic characteristics for the three phases.

· Predict what macroscopic phase they are observing while they make changes in temperature at the microscopic level.

· Investigate the role of inter-atomic forces in making the transition between gases, liquids and solids.