IGCSE 2.
1 SIMPLE KINETIC MODEL OF MATTER
CORE
* The 3 states of matter – solid, liquid and gas -1
Solids: fixed shapes, fixed volume, high density
Liquids: fixed volume, no fixed shape, medium density
Gases: no fixed shape or volume, fill the space they are in,
very low density
* Solids have strong molecular forces. Molecules are close
together and can only vibrate about fixed points. This is why
solids are hard
* Liquids have weaker molecular forces and so molecules are
not so close together. Liquids flow because the molecular
forces break easily. This is why we can dive into water – the
molecules separate.
* Gases have no forces between molecules so gases move
freely and must be kept in closed containers. Gases can be
compressed because of the big spaces between molecules -2
* Temperature of a gas is due to the average kinetic energy of
the molecules. Hot gases have on average, fast moving
molecules. Cold gases have on average slower molecules-3
* Gases produce pressure because their molecules collide with
force against the walls of the container –NOT because they
collide with each other -4
* We cannot see molecules but we can observe their effects.
“Brownian motion” is an experiment where tiny smoke
particles jiggle about randomly. This is caused by the smoke
particles being hit by many air molecules. Brownian motion is
evidence that gas molecules move randomly, at high speed and
have mass.-5
* Evaporation is when liquids turn to gas at temperatures
below their boiling temperature.-6
* Evaporation happens because fast, high energy molecules
can escape the attraction of neighboring molecules
* Evaporation cools liquids because low energy molecules are
left behind. Refrigerators use evaporation to cool food.-10
Boyle’s law: Pi x Vi = Pf x Vf
[i means initial and f means
final]
* Gas pressure increases with higher temperature because
the molecules hit the walls harder and more often (so long
as volume remains constant)-9
* If a gas is squeezed into a smaller volume, the pressure
increases because the molecules hit the walls more
frequently – but not harder if temperature remains
constant -7
SUPPLEMENT
* When gas molecules collide with their container walls
they bounce off and change momentum. This change of
momentum makes a force on the walls which causes
pressure -11
* Brownian motion happens because although molecules
are very small, there are lots of them and they move fast,
so their combined force is enough to move the “big” smoke
particles. We can observe the motion of the smoke
particles using a microscope-5
* Evaporation can happen at any temperature between
freezing and boiling but we can increase the rate of
evaporation by:
1) Increasing the temperature of the liquid
2) Making the surface area larger – evaporation only
happens from the top surface of the liquid
3) Blow air over the liquid – clothes dry faster on windy
days -12
* Evaporation produces cooling of the liquid so any warm
object touching the liquid will also pass energy to the liquid
– this is why humans sweat to keep cool
* If a mass of gas in a closed container at constant
temperature is squeezed, its pressure will increase. The
relationship between pressure and volume is:
Pi x Vi = Pf x Vf
[i means initial and f means final]
This equation says that if we half the volume of the gas at
constant temperature, we will double its pressure. This is
Boyle’s law-8