THE 3 STATES OF MATTER

• A substance with a fixed volume and shape
• There is very little space between particles
• The particles can only vibrate in place
• Regular arrangement
• Particles are tightly packed together

• This is a picture of a solid
• The particles are tightly packed together

• A substance with a fixed volume & indefinite shape
• The particles are close together
• Particles can "slide & glide"
• There is little space between particles
• Solids and liquids aren't easily compressible

• This is a picture of a liquid
• As you can see, there is little space between the particles

• A substance with no fixed shape or volume
• Particles are not close together
• Particles can move in any direction
• Very compressible
• Lots of free space between the particles

• This is a picture of a gas
• As you can see, there is lots of space between particles
• Because of that, the particles move easily