ScienceVerseLearning path: States of Matter
The concepts to learn before States of Matter, in order. Each step links to its page and, where one exists, its quiz.
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Your path
- AtomsDirect prerequisite
An atom is the smallest unit of an element that keeps that element's chemical identity. Every atom has a tiny, dense nucleus of protons and neutrons, which holds nearly all of its mass, surrounded by electrons that fill almost all of its volume. The number of protons fixes which element the atom is; changing the number of electrons makes an ion, and changing the number of neutrons makes a different isotope.
- States of MatterYour goal
Matter is normally found as a solid, a liquid or a gas, and at very high temperatures as plasma. The state depends on a contest between the attractions holding particles together and the particles' energy of motion, which rises with temperature. Melting, boiling and condensing change how the particles are arranged, not what they are, so they are physical changes rather than chemical reactions.