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Phase Change of Matter

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Devanand Manaram
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26 views1 page

Phase Change of Matter

Uploaded by

Devanand Manaram
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Phase Change of Matter: A simple version

Matter exists in three forms mainly: solid, liquid and gas. The conversion of matter from one
state to another is called a phase change.
If we follow the graph in Fig. 1 we can have a better picture of what is happening. When heat is
applied to a solid, its temperature rises until the melting point of this solid is reached. At the
melting point as more heat is applied the temperature remains constant. This is because the
energy supplied is used to partially overcome the attractive forces between molecules in a solid
to form liquid. This energy is called Latent heat of fusion, see Fig 1. This same amount of
energy must be removed for freezing. So, once enough energy is supplied to break these
molecular bonds, the solid will undergo a phase change to liquid. Now, as more energy is
supplied to this liquid its temperature will rise until it reaches it boiling point. At the boiling point
as more heat is applied the temperature remains constant. This is because the energy supplied
is used to overcome the attractive forces between molecules in a liquid to form a gas/vapour.
This energy is called Latent heat of vaporization, see Fig 1. This same amount of energy must
be removed for condensation.

Figure 1. Adding heat to water can either raise the temperature or change the phase. The heat that changes the temperature is
sensible heat, the heat that changes the phase is latent heat.

Fig 2: Phase Change of Matter

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