Question

What are the characteristics of the different states of matter?

Answer 1

Hint: To solve this question, we first need to know what it matters. Any substance that occupies space and has a mass is known as matter. Since everything is made up of atoms and subatomic particles, they are also considered to be matter.

Complete answer:
Now, the three fundamental states of matter are solid, liquid and gas.
Let us understand their characteristics.

	Characteristic	Solid	Liquid	Gas
1.	Shape	Have definite shape and volume	Do not have a definite shape or volume and take the shape of the container in which they are stored	No shape
2.	Rigidity	High	Rigidity in between solids and gases	None
3.	Compressibility	Negligible	Low	Very high
4.	Fluidity	Does not flow.	Flow from a higher to a lower level.	Flows in all directions.
5.	Packing of particles	Tightly packed	In between solids and gases	Loosely packed
6.	Kinetic energy	Least	In between solids and gases	Maximum
7.	Density	High	In between solids and gases	Low

Note:
The processes of changes in different states of matter takes place as follows:
When a solid substance like camphor directly converts into a gaseous state upon absorbing energy the process is known as sublimation. When a solid substance like ice converts into a liquid state like water upon absorbing energy the process is known as melting.
When a liquid substance like acetone converts into a gaseous state upon absorbing energy the process is known as evaporation. When a liquid substance like water converts into a solid state like ice upon releasing energy the process is known as freezing.
When a gaseous substance like vapor converts into a liquid state like water upon releasing energy the process is known as condensation. When a gaseous substance like vapor converts into a solid state like frost upon releasing energy the process is known as a deposition.