Pupil sheet · States and changes of state
Same water, three states — questions
Name ______________________ Date ____________
Try every question before you use a nudge. Write in full sentences where you are asked to explain.
1. identify / explain
You pour a sample from a tall narrow glass into a wide dish. Its shape changes to fit the dish, but it takes up the same amount of space. In a sealed syringe it hardly squashes at all. Which state is it? Explain which properties tell you.
Circle one answer.
- Solid
- Liquid
- Gas
Which two properties gave it away?
Nudge (only if you are stuck): Which state keeps its volume but not its shape?
2. describe
Match each description of the particles to its state.
Write the number of the matching option.
- Solid
- Liquid
- Gas
- Particles vibrate about fixed positions in a regular pattern: ______
- Particles are close together and move around each other: ______
- Particles are far apart and move quickly in all directions: ______
Nudge (only if you are stuck): Which state has particles that stay in fixed places? Which has the most empty space between them?
3. describe / explain
A dry kitchen sponge can be squeezed to a much smaller size. A pupil says: “It can be compressed, so a sponge must be a gas.” Explain why the pupil is wrong. Use the properties of the sponge, and the particles of the solid sponge itself.
What state the sponge is in, and how you know
What squeezing does to the sponge, explained with particles
Nudge (only if you are stuck): What fills the holes in a sponge? When you squeeze, what happens to the holes and to the air in them?
4. describe
Describe the particles in liquid water. Fill in each gap.
How close together are the particles?
How are they arranged?
How do they move?
Nudge (only if you are stuck): Liquid particles share one feature with solid particles and one with gas particles. Which ones?
5. identify / explain
Three sealed containers hold substances X, Y and Z at room temperature. Use the observations to identify the state of each substance. Then explain, using particles, why Y fills its container and can be squashed.
| Substance | Turn the container upside down | Push a sealed plunger |
|---|---|---|
| X | Stays in one piece with the same shape | Does not move |
| Y | Spreads through the whole container | Moves in |
| Z | Collects at the bottom with a level surface | Hardly moves |
State of X, Y and Z
Why Y fills its container and can be squashed
Nudge (only if you are stuck): Which property does each observation test: shape, volume or squashing?