Everything around you — your water bottle, the air you breathe, your eraser — is made of tiny bits called particles. The way those particles sit together decides if something is a solid, a liquid, or a gas.
By the end you will be able to:
👉 spot the three states of matter
👉 explain how their particles move
👉 know what happens when things heat up or cool down
Tap Next to begin your adventure! →
A solid keeps its own shape. A LEGO brick stays a brick wherever you put it. Why? Its particles are packed tightly together in neat rows and can only wiggle on the spot.
See how they jiggle but never leave their spot — that's why a solid stays firm!
Examples: rock, ice, your pencil, a coin.
A liquid flows and takes the shape of its container. Pour water into a round cup and it becomes round! Its particles are still close, but they can slide past each other.
Watch the particles slide and settle at the bottom — just like juice in a cup.
Examples: water, milk, oil, honey.
A gas spreads out to fill all the space it can. Its particles are far apart and zoom around super fast in every direction. That's why a smell travels right across a room!
The particles fly apart and bounce off the walls — gas has no fixed shape at all.
Examples: the air, steam, the helium in a balloon.
Tap an object, then tap the bin where it belongs: Solid, Liquid, or Gas. Get all six to win!
The same stuff can change state! Add heat and particles speed up and spread out. Take heat away (cool it) and they slow down and pack tight. Slide to heat the ice!
This water is now a SOLID
Frozen solid ice — particles locked in place. Slide right to add heat! 🌡️
❄️ Freeze → solid • Melt → liquid • Boil → gas 🔥
You breathe it in, it has no shape, and its particles zoom far apart. Which state of matter is the air?
Hint: think about how a smell can spread across the whole room!
You are now a States of Matter explorer! Here's everything you learned:
Particles packed tight. Fixed shape. Only wiggles.
Particles slide. Takes cup's shape. Flows & pours.
Particles far & fast. Fills all space. Spreads out.
✓ Add heat → particles speed up → solid melts to liquid, liquid boils to gas.
✓ Take heat away (cool) → particles slow down → gas to liquid, liquid freezes to solid.
✓ It's the same stuff — only the particles' arrangement changes! 🧊→💧→💨
Keep exploring — science is everywhere! 🌟