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Solid, liquid, gas: the same molecules, just jiggling harder.
States of Matter lab · Last updated: 16 October 2026
Solid, liquid and gas are the same molecules, just jiggling harder. In this 3D lab, you heat and cool a substance and watch its particles change from vibrating in place to sliding past each other to flying apart. It explains melting ice, boiling kettles and drying clothes with one simple picture.
What you'll discover
- In a solid, particles are packed tightly and only vibrate around fixed places.
- Heating gives particles more energy until they slip loose enough to flow as a liquid, then escape as a gas.
- While ice melts or water boils, the temperature stays the same because the energy goes into breaking attractions.
The science in plain words
All matter is made of tiny particles that are always moving. What changes between a solid, a liquid and a gas is how fast they move compared with how strongly they attract one another. In a solid such as ice, the attractions win: particles stay locked in place and can only vibrate, so the solid keeps its shape.
Heat a solid and its particles vibrate harder. At the melting point, 0 °C for ice, they gain enough energy to slip past one another. The substance becomes a liquid, which flows and takes the shape of its container but keeps the same volume. Heat it further and, at the boiling point, 100 °C for water at sea level, particles escape completely and spread out as a gas, filling any space they are in.
A surprising detail is that the temperature stops rising while a substance melts or boils. The energy being added goes into pulling particles apart rather than speeding them up, which is called latent heat. Cooling runs the same story backwards: gases condense and liquids turn solid. Evaporation is different from boiling because it happens at the surface at any temperature, which is why puddles dry on a cool day.
Where it fits
Common questions
What are the three states of matter?
The three everyday states are solid, liquid and gas. Solids keep their shape, liquids flow but keep their volume, and gases spread out to fill any container. The difference comes from how tightly the particles are held together and how fast they move. Plasma, found in stars and lightning, is a fourth state.
Why does ice melt?
Ice melts when it takes in enough heat for its water molecules to break out of their fixed places. At 0 °C they start sliding past each other and the ice turns into liquid water. Warm air, a warm hand or sunlight can all supply that energy.
What is the difference between evaporation and boiling?
Evaporation happens only at the surface of a liquid and at any temperature, as the fastest particles escape. Boiling happens throughout the liquid at one fixed temperature, called the boiling point, when bubbles of vapour form inside it. Both turn a liquid into a gas.
Related labs
- Gas Laws: Squash a gas with a piston, or heat it: how does its volume change?
- Diffusion: A drop of dye in still jelly: how does it spread with nothing stirring it?
- Water Cycle: The Sun lifts water out of the sea. Where does it go, and how does it get back?
See all chemistry labs or every Taz science lab.
Try it yourself
The States of Matter lab is one of the interactive 3D science labs inside Taz. Change one thing, predict what will happen, then run it and watch. Labs open after you sign in.