IGCSE Chemistry

Chapter 1
The Particulate Nature of Matter

MR. TAN WAI SHAN

MHSc Biomedical Science (UKM), BSc Microbiology (USM)
Tel: 0179181063 | Email: ventustan93@gmail.com
Matter
• The science that deals with the study of properties, composition and
interaction of matter is known as CHEMISTRY.
• Matter is anything that has mass and occupy space.
• All matter is made from particles.
• Matter can occur in three state based on their force of attraction,
namely, solid, liquid, and gas.
The 3 States of Matters
• Solid
• Liquid
• Gas
Solids
• Has definite mass
• Has definite shape
• Volume does not change
• Does not flow
• Hard to compress
• Strong force of attraction hold the particles together in three
dimensional structure.
• Form orderly arrangement called lattice.
Particles in Solids
• Particles in solid can move and vibrate a little, but they do not change
position.
• Strong forces of attraction between the particles stop the particles
from moving around and stop them from flowing.
• Hence, shape of solid cannot change.
• Particles are so close together so they hard to be compressed.
Liquids
• Has definite mass
• No fixed shape
• Volume does not change
• Hard to compress but it flows easily
• Shape of liquid depends on the shape of the container holding it.
• Force of attraction holding the particles together are weaker than
solids
• Can change position by moving around each other
Particles in Liquids
• Weaker forces of attraction between the particles allows them to
move and thus the liquid can flow.
• Force of attraction in liquid are not strong enough to keep a definite
shape, so, it gains support from the walls of its container and take up
the shape of the container.
• The particles are close together that they hardly can be compressed.
Gases
• Has definite mass
• No fixed shape
• Volume can vary
• It takes up the shape container holding it
• It flows easily and easy to compress
• Forces of attraction between the particles are very weak and the
particles move away from each other and travel in all directions.
• When the particles hit the surface of the container, they bounce and
change direction.
Particles in a Gases
• The very weak force of attraction between the particles in a gas lets
them move freely and thus they are far apart from one another.
• The volume of gas can change because the distance between the
particles is different.
• The gas can be compressed because there are plenty of space that
the gas particles can move.
• The weak forces also allow the gas to flow easily.
• When the gas particles is placed in a container, the particles can
spread out in all directions and occupy the whole space of the
container.
Change of Physical State
• Solids, liquids and gases can change between each other simply by
heating or cooling them.
• The processes involved in changing each states are

Starting state Finishing state Process

solid liquid melting
solid gas sublimation
liquid solid freezing
liquid gas evaporation
gas liquid condensation
gas solid sublimation
Freezing
• Happens when liquid is cooled to its freezing point.
• The particles lose so much energy that they can no longer move
freely.
• The particles can only vibrate in a fixed position within a lattice.
Evaporating
• Liquid can turn into gas over a wide range of
temperature through the process called
evaporation.
• Some of the liquid at the surface of the
liquid changes into gas and mixes with the
air.
• Happens because particles in a liquid have
different amounts of energy
• Particles with higher amounts of energy
move faster and break away from the
surface and escape into the air to form gas.
Melting
• Happens when solid is heated to its melting point.
• Solid will loses its shape and begins to flow.
• Heat supplied will make the particles vibrate more strongly so the
particles will push each other further away.
• As a result, this will weaken the force of attraction between the
particles and allow them to move more freely.
Boiling
• Happens when liquid reaches its boiling
point.
• The fastest moving particles will form bubbles
of gas in the liquid and rise to the surface so
that they would burst into the air.
• The temperature of boiling liquid will not rise
because the heat supplied is used to boils
more particles.
Condensation
• Happens when gas cools down to form
liquid.
• Particles in gas lose some of the energy
and become slow down
• Particles will no longer bounce off each
other but they tend to stay closer when
they meet.
• Force of attraction between particles
would have increased and liquid will be
formed.
Sublimation
• Happens when solid directly change to gas or
gas directly turns to solid (desublimation)
without passing through the liquid state.
• Substances that can undergo sublimation: dry ice, iodine and napthalene.
• When solid changes to gas, the forces that bind the particles together are
quickly lost and they move away from each other completely.
• When a gas directly transform into solid, the particles lose their energy so
quickly that they come together and are held by strong forces between
them.
Solids, Liquids and Gases
Dissolving
• Happens when solid solubilize in a liquid and seems to
disappear into it.
• If the solid is coloured, it may colour the liquid.
• Solid particles does not disappear but the particles
simply separate and spread throughout the liquid.
• Solid particles will pass through the gaps present in
liquid and fill themselves to be fairly distributed.
• The particles present in larger amounts are called
solvents (usually is liquid) and the particles present in
smaller amounts are called solutes (usually is solid)
Gas Pressure
• All physical states can generate pressure.
• In gas, there are millions of fast moving particles and a huge number
of them bounce to the walls of the gas container in every second.
• The force of these particles as they push against the surface
generates the gas pressure.

Gas pressure will rise when
• Gas is heated
• Particles move faster
• Particles bounce off the container
wall more frequently
Gas pressure will fall when
• Gas is cooled
• Particles move slowly
• Particles bounce off the container
wall less frequently
Pressure and Temperature
• Charles’ law stated, at constant volume, gas pressure will increase as
the temperature increases and vice versa.

At higher temperature At lower temperature

• Particles move faster • Particles moves
• Particles hit the wall slower
of the container • Particles hit the wall
more frequently of the container less
• Gas pressure frequently
increases • Gas pressure
decreases
Pressure and Volume
• Boyle’s law states that, at constant
temperature, when the volume
decreases, the gas pressure rises.
At larger volume
• Particles have more space to
move
• Particles hit the wall of the
container less frequently
• Gas pressure decreases
At smaller volume
• Particles have lesser space to
move
• Particles hit the wall of the
container more frequently
• Gas pressure increases
The Collapsing Bottle
• When all the air in the plastic bottle is removed
by using a vacuum pump, there are fewer air
particles inside the bottle.
• The frequency of collisions of particles with the
walls on the inside of the bottle is less.
• On the outside of the bottle there are lots of air
particles colliding with the walls of the bottle.
• The pressure on the outside is greater than the
pressure on the inside, so the walls of the
bottle are pushed inwards.
Atmospheric Pressure
• The pressure exerted by the weight of the atmosphere.
• At the very top of very high mountains, the atmospheric pressure is
less than the sea level.
Brownian Motion
• Happens when particles that are free to
move around and collide with each
other in high speed and randomly,
making them both bounce off in
different directions.
• Many of these collisions occur to create
the random paths that the particles
take.
• It occurs when particles spread out, a
random and erratic motion.
• Evidence: movement of pollen grains in
water.
Diffusion
• The spreading of particles and to make the particles distribute evenly.
• Occurs in liquid and gases only.
• Diffusion in liquid is slower than in gas because liquid is denser.
Factors Affecting Diffusion
• Temperature
• Higher temperature will provide higher energy to the particles.
The particles will move faster and more randomly. So, diffusion
happens faster.
• Particle size and mass
• Particles with smaller size and mass of will move faster.
• States of substances that are diffusing
• Gas will diffuse faster than liquid and solid because gas particles
are spaciously arranged.
• Solid is the most difficult state to undergo diffusion because the
particles are very close with one another.
Diffusion of Liquid
Diffusion of Gas