Everything around us is matter, and matter comes in three common states: solid, liquid and gas. A solid keeps its shape. A liquid takes the shape of its container. A gas spreads out to fill all the space it has. Heating or cooling can change one state into another.
Peabody: Hi, I am Peabody! Look around. The table, the juice, even the air is matter. Matter is anything that takes up space. It comes in three main states.
Crumb: I am Crumb! A solid keeps its own shape. A rock is a solid. So is a ball, and so is my spoon. A solid does not pour.
Peabody: A liquid flows and takes the shape of its container. Pour juice in a tall glass and it is tall. Pour it in a bowl and it is wide. It is still the same amount.
Crumb: A gas spreads out to fill all the space it has. The air in my balloon fills the whole balloon. You cannot see most gases, but they are there.
Peabody: Heat can change the state. Warm up ice, a solid, and it melts into water, a liquid. Cool the water enough and it freezes into ice again.
Crumb: Heat water even more and it boils into steam, a gas. Steam that cools turns back into drops. Same stuff, three states!
Crumb: Here is a recap! Solids keep their shape, liquids flow, and gases spread out. Heating and cooling can change one into another. Look around your kitchen and find all three!
Quiz: five questions
Tap an answer. Stuck? Tap the hint. Nothing is scored or saved.
Question 1 of 5
Which state of matter has a shape of its own?
The words
matter
anything that takes up space
solid
matter that keeps its own shape
liquid
matter that flows and takes the shape of its container
gas
matter that spreads out to fill its space
melt
to change from a solid to a liquid
Make it: put the explainer in order
Tap the scenes in the order they happen. Which comes first?
Try it without a screen: Sort the kitchen
You need: a tray, a few safe things: a spoon, juice in a cup, a sealed balloon, ice.
Make three spots on the tray: solid, liquid, gas.
Place each thing in the right spot.
Put an ice cube in a bowl in the sun. Watch what happens for ten minutes.
Say which state it started in and which state it ended in.
For the grown-up
This explainer covers the three common states and the idea that heating and cooling change them. Common slip: thinking a gas weighs nothing or is not matter. A balloon shows air takes up space. Keep hot water and the stove for a grown-up. Nothing here is saved or shown to anyone.