Physics Lesson 13.3.4 - Change of State

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Welcome to our Physics lesson on Change of State, this is the fourth lesson of our suite of physics lessons covering the topic of Absorption of Heat, you can find links to the other lessons within this tutorial and access additional physics learning resources below this lesson.

Change of State

When an object changes its phase, we say there is a change of state in it. There are six possible phase changes during a change in state.

Melting. It occurs when a solid turns into liquid. During this process, temperature remains constant as the heat supplied to the object goes for breaking the strong molecular bonds, not for the increase in their kinetic energy.
Freezing. It is the reverse process of melting that occurs when a liquid turns into solid. It occurs when the object gives off heat to the surroundings. After the termination of this process, atoms are more structured than before. Again, the freeing process occurs without any change in temperature.
Evaporation. It occurs when a liquid turns into gas. Again, the heat supplied during evaporation does not contribute in the increase in temperature. It only allows atoms leave the liquid and move freely in space.
Condensation. It is the reverse process of evaporation, i.e. it occurs when a gas turns into liquid giving off heat, without any change in temperature.
Sublimation. Sometimes, a solid turns directly into gas due to the very large amount of heat it absorbs. During this process, the liquid phase is skipped.
Deposition. It is the reverse process of sublimation, i.e. it occurs when a gas turns directly into solid without passing through the liquid state. This process occurs when the object gives off large amounts of heat at a very short time.

The following scheme gives a clearer idea about the relationship between various stages in states of matter during their phase change.

Physics Tutorials: This image provides visual information for the physics tutorial Absorption of Heat

We use a special word to describe the process in which the evaporation takes place at the highest rate. It is known as "boiling". The boiling temperature is the highest temperature a liquid may have. For example, water boils at 100°C, which corresponds to the highest temperature of water in the liquid state.

You have reached the end of Physics lesson 13.3.4 Change of State. There are 5 lessons in this physics tutorial covering Absorption of Heat, you can access all the lessons from this tutorial below.

More Absorption of Heat Lessons and Learning Resources

Thermodynamics Learning Material
Tutorial ID	Physics Tutorial Title	Revision Notes	Revision Questions
13.3	Absorption of Heat
Lesson ID	Physics Lesson Title	Lesson	Video Lesson
13.3.1	Absorption of Heat. Good and Bad Absorbers of Heat
13.3.2	Joule or Calorie?
13.3.3	States of Matter
13.3.4	Change of State
13.3.5	Latent Heat. Specific Latent Heat of Fusion and Vaporization

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Continuing learning thermodynamics - read our next physics tutorial: Calorimetry (Heat Transfer)

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