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Particulate Nature of Matter

Squeezing them

Close the tip of a syringe with your thumb. Push the plunger, the part that slides in. It moves easily when the syringe holds air. With water it hardly moves.

Gas: particles sit far apart.
Step 1 of 4
  1. Gas: particles sit far apart.
  2. Push. The gas squeezes into much less space.
  3. Liquid: particles already sit close.
  4. Push. The liquid hardly squeezes.

New word

  • Compress — squeeze into less space.

The rule

Push a gas and its particles move closer. A gas has a lot of empty space between its particles. A liquid has very little, so water hardly squeezes.

Let go of the plunger. The squeezed gas pushes the plunger back. Its particles spread out again.

Choose air or water. Then push.

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This track

  1. 0 Start here
  2. 1 Pieces too small to see
  3. 2 Gaps between them
  4. 3 They never stop moving
  5. 4 Three arrangements
  6. 5 Warming them up
  7. 6 Squeezing them
  8. 7 What this picture explains
  9. 8 The big picture
  10. 9 Track quiz

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