VIRTUAL LABORATORY ACTIVITY

CHANGE OF PHASE IN MATTER

Objectives
1. To explore the changes in phase of matter.
2. To contrast the arrangement and motion of molecules of matter from one phase to another.
Procedure:
A. 1.Open the link https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/states-of-matter-basics/latest/states-of-matter-
basics_en.html.

2. Click the solid state (cube inside the box “States”) The picture below will appear on the screen.

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3. Make sure the “Solid” button on the right is clicked, as well as the “Neon” option. In the vessel, you will see a
piece of matter in the given state. Above the vessel, change the temperature option to OC rather than K.
4. Screenshot the result and paste the picture in the table below procedure C.
Questions:
1. Describe how the atoms are arranged in the solid block of Neon.
•They are closely packed with each other, and maintains a certain volume and shape

2. Describe the movement of the atoms of solid Neon.

• A solid's atoms are so attracted to one another that they vibrate instead of moving past one another. They
do vibrate but do not travel from one location to another.

1. What is the freezing point (temperature in OC) of Neon based on the simulation? -259°C

B. Now switch your state of matter to a liquid. Screenshot the result and paste the picture in the table below
procedure C.
Questions:
2. Describe how the atoms of the liquid Neon are arranged.
•They are close together with no regular arrangement.

3. Describe the movement of the atoms of liquid Neon.

•Its particles slide past one another. They move with random motion throughout the container. It goes quickly
in all directions, but because the distances between its particles are shorter, it collides with each other more
frequently.

4. What is the melting point (temperature in OC) of Neon based on the simulation? -246°C

C. Now switch your state of matter to a gas. Screenshot the result and paste the picture in the table below
procedure C.
Questions:
1. Describe how the atoms of the gaseous Neon are arranged.
•Its particles are well seperated and has no regular movement. It has a lot of free space between

2. Describe the movement of the atoms in gaseous Neon.

•They vibrate and move freely at high speeds. It could flow easily.

3. What is the boiling point (temperature in OC) of Neon based on the simulation? -217°C

Solid Neon Liquid Neon Gaseous Neon

 Arrangement of Atoms

D. Now click on the “Solid” button on the right and choose the “Water” option. Screenshot the result and paste the
picture in the table below procedure G.
Questions:
1. How does the solid water compare to the solid Neon?
•Based from the result, we could see that solid Neon is more compressed than solid water

2. Why do you think that might be?

•Simply because water gets less dense, when it goes into a solid phase because of its hydrogen bonds.
E. Now change the state from “Solid” to “Gas”. Mess with the heat and cool option. Cool down your vessel for
about 10-12 seconds. Screenshot the result.
Question:
1. Describe what happens to the water molecules when the vessels is cooled for about 10 seconds or more.
•After the water molecules cooled down for a span of 10 seconds, they settled down at the bottom of the container
and became more closed with each other.

F. Mess with adding the heat underneath the vessel. Allow your solid water to “heat” for about 5 seconds and
observe what happens. Screenshot the result and paste the picture in the table below procedure G.
Questions:
1. Describe what happens to the water molecules when the vessel is heated for about 5 seconds.
• When the vessels were heated for around 5 seconds, the water molecules dropped and grew closer to one
another.

2. What state of matter can you assume the water molecules are now in?
•They are now in a liquid phase, since the atoms are sliding past one another.

G. Add heat again for another 10 seconds. Screenshot the result and paste the picture in the table below.
Questions:
1. Describe what happens to the water molecules when the vessel is heated for about 10 more seconds.
•When the vessels were heated for around 10 seconds, the water molecules began to vibrate again and spread
out.

2. What state of matter can you assume the water molecules are now in?
•We could assume that they are in a gasesous phase, simply because the atoms started spreading out

RESULT ( PICTURE)
D. Water (SOLID)
E. Water (SOLID TO GAS)
Cooled down for 10-12 seconds)

F. Water (SOLID)
Heated for 5 seconds

G. Water (SOLID)
Heated for 10 seconds