What happens to the kinetic energy of particles of matter in solid liquid and gas as temperature increases?

The Energy of Gases, Solids and Liquids

The three basic states of matter have different amounts of kinetic (movement) energy: in a solid, the particles vibrate about a fixed point. If you add heat energy to a solid, the particles will vibrate with larger and larger amplitudes ('wobbles') and eventually more and more of these particles will be able to break their solid bonds to form a liquid (melting).

Liquids have more kinetic energy than solids. If you add heat energy to a liquid, the particles will move faster around each other as their kinetic energy increases. Some of these particles will have enough kinetic energy to break their liquid bonds and escape as a gas (evaporation).

Even water in a puddle on a cool day has some particles with enough energy to break their liquid bonds and become a gas. There will be enough of these particles so that after several hours the puddle has evaporated into a gas.

GCSE Physics Keywords: Kinetic energy, Solid bonds, Liquid bonds, Vibrate, Heat energy, Breaking bonds, Melting, Evaporation.

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