Solid, liquid or gas?
Test everyday materials for shape, flow and how they fill a container, then sort them into solids, liquids and gases.
Core concept
In short: Sort things into solids, liquids and gases by how they behave.
Solids keep their shape, liquids flow and take the shape of their container, and gases spread out to fill any space
Topic: States of matter
Everything around us is matter, and most matter is a solid, a liquid or a gas. A solid keeps its own shape and volume: How much space something takes up, measured in millilitres or cubic centimetres. All key words. A liquid has a fixed volume but flows and takes the shape of the bottom of its container. A gas has no fixed shape or volume: it spreads out to fill the whole container. A few materials are tricky. Sand pours, but each grain is a tiny solid that keeps its shape. Honey flows slowly, but it still flows, so it is a liquid.
What you will learn
- Describe the properties of solids, liquids and gases.
- Use simple tests to decide the state of a material.
- Classify everyday materials as solids, liquids or gases.
Before you start
- None.
Materials
- Stone, wooden block, ice cube, sand, water, cooking oil, honey, milk, air, steam, LPG gas
Equipment
- Containers of different shapes, a balloon, a tray
Procedure
- Choose a card and try the tests: does it keep its own shape, does it flow, does it fill the whole container?
- Use the results to place each card in the solid, liquid or gas group.
- Think again about any card that was placed in the wrong group.