Tom's World
Tom is in his kitchen, preparing a cold drink on a warm summer day.
He decides to make a refreshing iced tea
and starts by filling a glass
with ice cubes from the freezer. As he
watches the ice cubes melt, he
reflects on the particle model of matter:
Tom begins by taking a few ice cubes out of the freezer. He notices that
the ice cubes are solid and have a
defined shape and volume. He
explains that in their solid state, the
water molecules in the ice are
tightly packed together and arranged in a
regular pattern
Tom places the ice cubes in the glass and observes as they start to melt.
He notices that as the ice cubes come
into contact with the warmer air
and the glass, they gradually begin to change from solid to liquid
. He
explains that the heat from the surroundings is transferring
energy to
the ice cubes, causing the water molecules to gain enough
kinetic
energy to overcome the attractive forces holding them together
in the
solid lattice.
As the ice cubes continue to melt, Tom observes that liquid water
collects at the bottom of the glass. He explains that in the liquid state,
the water molecules are still close together but have more freedom to
move past one another. This illustrates another aspect of the particle
model: the ability of particles in a liquid to flow and take the shape of
their container.
Questions:
1. How does the behavior of the water molecules in the ice cubes
change as they transition from a solid to a liquid state?
2. Why does the temperature of the surroundings play a crucial role in
the melting process of the ice cubes?
3. What evidence in Tom's observations supports the idea that particles
in a liquid have more freedom to move than those in a solid?
4. How does the process of melting ice cubes illustrate the concept of
phase transitions and the interplay between kinetic energy and
attractive forces among particles?
​