UTF-8Particle phase transitionsType your name here:
Jonathan Mase
The learning goals for tonight's activity include:
- Be able to describe the behavior of a system of one type of particle as either gaseous, liquid or solid
- Be able to manipulate particle properties and/or the potential energy function for their interaction to change
the 'state' of the particles (gas --> liquid --> solid) without changing particle size or the temperature.
Observe the particles in the simulation below. Describe how the particles behave and whether this behavior
is more like that of a gas, liquid or solid. Explain why using complete sentences with specific details.
Without adjusting anything, the particles just spend most of the time bouncing off the edges of the simulation and off of each other. Even if the molecules slow down and don't hit any other molecules, they don't clump together. Eventually, a stray particle will bump into them, and send them off and flying. Their behavior is definitely that of a gas.
Make a change(s) that cause the molecules to behave more like a liquid without changing the particle
diameter or the temperature of the system. Describe with complete sentences and specific details
why the behavior of the system after your changes is more like a liquid.
Even though the system still has movement, there are only two or three stray particles going about. Instead, the particles clump together, but they do not remain in one place. They instead move about as a unit. I got this by changing the potential energy of the system, making it far lower. I did this because a greater potential energy will make it harder for the particles to break the bonds that keep them in the liquid state.
Repeat the above for a solid.
In order to get the system to form a solid, I lowered the potential energy to the same as for a liquid. I also increased the mass from 20g/mol to 20,000g/mol. This is incredibly extreme (perhaps impossible), but I have made the particles so heavy that the forces available are apparently not enough to move them. I had to add in external forces to get them moving together, but after the initial burst of force, they clumped together, and did not move.
Save the page in the following format: "2013-0916_LastName-Phases". Click on "Webspace" above and
"Submit Current Page" to submit your work before you leave tonight.16truetrue16true16true1616255 0 25516255 0 25516255 0 25516255 0 25516true16true16truetrue16truetrueorg.concord.mw2d.activity.AtomContainer2013-0916Phases_Mase$0.mml16true16true16truetrue16true16true16true16true16truetrue16true16true16true16true16true16true16true