Look at the arrangement
Particles in a solid stay near fixed places. Liquid particles can move past one another.
Matter Playground
Heat and cool a water model to observe changes in state and particle arrangement.
Grades 3–5 · Chemistry
Your goal
Make water solid.
Reduced motion is on. The controls still update the scene.
Water is liquid. Particles stay close and slide past one another.
°C
Particles are enlarged illustrations, not real molecular sizes. Motion is slowed. Water vapor is invisible. A visible steam cloud is tiny liquid droplets.
This temperature model holds pressure near one atmosphere. At 0 °C and 100 °C it shows a possible mixture, without calculating time or the energy needed for a phase change.
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Learn with Matter Playground
Matter Playground uses an enlarged particle picture to explore water as a solid, liquid, or gas at ordinary air pressure. Change the temperature and start the optional particle motion to compare how the particles are arranged and move. At the freezing and boiling temperatures, the scene can show two phases together. Elementary learners can connect heating and cooling with changes of state while recognizing that the particles are illustrations and the activity does not calculate the energy or time required for melting and boiling.
What to look for
Heat or cool
Water can melt, freeze, boil, or condense as energy is transferred.
Notice the transition
During melting or boiling, more than one state can be present together.
For teachers and curious learners
Connect heating and cooling with changes of state. Ask students to predict what will happen, change one setting, and explain what they observe. Learn gives a starting point. Practice and Challenge offer new goals with the same scene.
This water model assumes ordinary atmospheric pressure. Particles are enlarged illustrations, not to scale. Gaseous water itself is invisible; the drawn particles help show the model.
Continue with States of Matter Playground .