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There exists one other phase of matter, plasma, which exists at very high temperatures. In this chapter, we generally refer to both gases and liquids simply as fluids, making a distinction between them only when they behave differently. When placed in an open container, gases, unlike liquids, will escape. This makes gases relatively easy to compress and allows them to flow (which makes them fluids). In contrast, atoms in gases are separated by large distances, and the forces between atoms in a gas are therefore very weak, except when the atoms collide with one another. Because the atoms are closely packed, liquids, like solids, resist compression an extremely large force is necessary to change the volume of a liquid. When a liquid is placed in a container with no lid, it remains in the container.
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That is, liquids flow (so they are a type of fluid), with the molecules held together by mutual attraction. This occurs because the atoms or molecules in a liquid are free to slide about and change neighbors. Liquids deform easily when stressed and do not spring back to their original shape once a force is removed. A gas must be held in a closed container to prevent it from expanding freely and escaping. (c) Atoms in a gas move about freely and are separated by large distances. Forces between the atoms strongly resist attempts to compress the atoms. (b) Atoms in a liquid are also in close contact but can slide over one another. So a balloon filled with helium is less dense than one filled with air, because helium atoms are lighter than the atoms in air.\): (a) Atoms in a solid are always in close contact with neighboring atoms, held in place by forces represented here by springs. Solid ice is less dense than liquid water, because the particles must pack together more closely in the liquid.īut even substances in the same state can have different densities, depending on the mass of the atoms that make them up. Interestingly, water is an exception to this rule. In gases the particles are far apart, moving quickly in random directions with a lot of empty space between them. Liquids typically have a lower density than solids. In liquids, the particles can move around more freely, so they slide over each other with some gaps between them. In a solid, the particles are tightly packed, so you can get a lot in a given space. The difference is mostly due to the fact that air is a gas and the water is a liquid, because density depends a lot on the state of matter. So density is mass divided by volume, five hundred grams divided by five hundred cubic centimetres, giving one gram per cubic centimetre.īut this air-filled balloon has a much lower density of about zero point zero zero one gram per cubic centimetre. This has gone up by five hundred cubic centimetres, so that’s the volume. You can find the volume of an irregular shaped object by submerging it in water and measuring how much this level changes. You can think of density as how heavy something is for its size.And you can calculate it by taking the mass - this is five hundred grams - and dividing it by the volume. I know which I’d prefer to try and catch! And that’s because water and air have different densities. These balloons are the same size, but this one is filled with water instead of air and is much heavier.