1. Interpret the phase diagram of water and carbon dioxide.

The states of matter exhibited by a substance under different temperatures and

pressures can be summarized graphically in a phase diagram, which is a plot of
pressure versus temperature. Phase diagrams contain discrete regions corresponding to
the solid, liquid, and gas phases.

In the phase diagram of water, the slope of the line between the solid and liquid
states is negative rather than positive. The reason is that water is an unusual substance
in that its solid state is less dense than the liquid state. Ice floats in liquid water.
Therefore, a pressure change has the opposite effect on those two phases. If ice is
relatively near its melting point, it can be changed into liquid water by the application of
pressure. The water molecules are actually closer together in the liquid phase than they
are in the solid phase.

Phase diagrams contain discrete regions corresponding to the solid, liquid, and gas
phases. The phase diagram of carbon dioxide shows that liquid carbon dioxide cannot
exist at atmospheric pressure. Consequently, solid carbon dioxide sublimes directly to a
gas.
 Most substances have the phase diagram that mimics that of carbon dioxide.
However, if we examine the phase diagram of water we will find an important difference.
Unlike carbon dioxide and most other substances, the phase diagram of water shows a
negative slope for the boundary line between the liquid and solid state. This difference
has to do with that fact that water actually expands as it goes from the liquid state to the
solid state. This implies that liquid water is denser than solid water. That is exactly why
an ice cube of water will float in liquid water.

2. Determine and explain the heating and cooling curve of a substance.

A heating curve graphically represents the phase transitions that a substance

undergoes as heat is added to it. The plateaus on the curve mark the phase changes.
The temperature remains constant during these phase transitions.
Heating curves show how the temperature changes as a substance is heated up.
Cooling curves are the opposite. They show how the temperature changes as a
substance is cooled down. Just like heating curves, cooling curves have horizontal flat
parts where the state changes from gas to liquid, or from liquid to solid. These are mirror
images of the heating curve.
Salol has a melting point of about 45°C and stearic acid has a melting point of
about 69°C. They are easily melted in a boiling tube placed in a beaker of hot water. The
temperature can be followed using a thermometer or temperature probe connected to a
data logger. The liquid may be cooled by putting the boiling tube in a beaker of cold
water or just leaving it in the air.