Phase
Changes
Key Concepts
• What are six common phase changes?
• What happens to a substance’s temperature
and a system’s energy during a phase change?
• How does the arrangement of water molecules
change during melting and freezing?
• How are evaporation and boiling different?
Characteristics of Phase Changes
• When at least two states of the same substance are
present, scientists describe each different state as a
phase
• A phase change is the reversible physical change that
occurs when a substance changes from one state of
matter to another
Characteristics of Phase
Changes
• Melting, freezing, vaporization,
condensation, sublimation, and deposition
are six common phase changes.
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Melting
Solid Freezing Liquid
Temperature and Phase Changes
• One way to recognize a
phase change is by
measuring the
temperature of a
substance as it is heated
or cooled.
• The temperature of a
substance does not
change during a phase
change
Energy and Phase Changes
• During a phase change, energy is transferred
between a substance and its surroundings.
• The direction of the transfer depends on the
type of phase change.
• Energy is either absorbed or released
during a phase change.
Energy and Phase Changes
• Energy is either absorbed or released
during a phase change.
Energy released
Energy absorbed
Energy released as ice forms on
The ice sculpture will start to melt if these strawberry plants keeps
the temperature rises above 0ºC or the plants from freezing at
sunlight shines directly on the ice. temperatures slightly below 0°C.
Energy and Phase Changes
• During an endothermic change, the
system absorbs energy from its
surroundings.
• Melting is an example of an endothermic
change.
• heat of fusion-The amount of energy
absorbed
ENERGY AND PHASE
CHANGES
• During an exothermic change,
the system releases energy to its
surroundings.
• Freezing is an example of an
exothermic change.
Melting and Freezing
• The arrangement of molecules in a
substance becomes less orderly as
the substance melts and more
orderly as the substance freezes.
MELTING
• At the melting point of water,
0°C, some molecules gain enough
energy to overcome the
attractions and move from their
fixed positions.
FREEZING
• As the average kinetic energy of a
substances molecules decreases, they
move more slowly.
• At the freezing point of water, some
molecules move slowly enough for the
attractions between molecules to have
an effect.
Vaporization and Condensation
• The phase change in which a substance
changes from a liquid into a gas is
vaporization.
• Vaporization is an endothermic process.
• heat of vaporization- the amount of energy a
substance must absorb in order to change from
a liquid to a gas
Vaporization and Condensation
• Scientists distinguish two vaporization
processes—boiling and evaporation.
• Evaporation-Evaporation takes place at
the surface of a liquid and occurs at
temperatures below the boiling point.
Vaporization and Condensation
• Boiling- The kinetic
theory explains what
happens when water Boiling takes
boils. place throughout
a liquid.
• As the temperature
increases, water
molecules move faster
and faster.
• Occurs throughout the
liquid
Vaporization and Condensation
• Condensation is the phase change in which a
substance changes from a gas or vapor to a
liquid
Water vapor from the
air condensed into drops of liquid
water on these blades of grass.
Sublimation and Deposition
• Sublimation is the phase change in which a
substance changes from a solid to a gas or
vapor without changing to a liquid first.
• When a gas or vapor changes directly into a
solid without first changing to a liquid, the
phase change is called deposition.
Reviewing Concepts
• 1. Name six common phase changes.
• 2. What happens to the temperature of a
substance during a phase change?
• 3. How does the energy of a system change
during a phase change?
• 4. What happens to the arrangement of water
molecules as water melts and freezes?
• 5. What is the difference between evaporation
and boiling?
• 6. Explain why sublimation and deposition are
classified as physical changes.
