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584 Chapter 10 | Liquids and Solids
10.3 Phase Transitions
Phase transitions are processes that convert matter from one physical state into another. There are six phase transitions between the three phases of matter. Melting, vaporization, and sublimation are all endothermic processes, requiring an input of heat to overcome intermolecular attractions. The reciprocal transitions of freezing, condensation, and deposition are all exothermic processes, involving heat as intermolecular attractive forces are established or strengthened. The temperatures at which phase transitions occur are determined by the relative strengths of intermolecular attractions and are, therefore, dependent on the chemical identity of the substance.
10.4 Phase Diagrams
The temperature and pressure conditions at which a substance exists in solid, liquid, and gaseous states are summarized in a phase diagram for that substance. Phase diagrams are combined plots of three pressure-temperature equilibrium curves: solid-liquid, liquid-gas, and solid-gas. These curves represent the relationships between phase- transition temperatures and pressures. The point of intersection of all three curves represents the substance’s triple point—the temperature and pressure at which all three phases are in equilibrium. At pressures below the triple point, a substance cannot exist in the liquid state, regardless of its temperature. The terminus of the liquid-gas curve represents the substance’s critical point, the pressure and temperature above which a liquid phase cannot exist.
10.5 The Solid State of Matter
Some substances form crystalline solids consisting of particles in a very organized structure; others form amorphous (noncrystalline) solids with an internal structure that is not ordered. The main types of crystalline solids are ionic solids, metallic solids, covalent network solids, and molecular solids. The properties of the different kinds of crystalline solids are due to the types of particles of which they consist, the arrangements of the particles, and the strengths of the attractions between them. Because their particles experience identical attractions, crystalline solids have distinct melting temperatures; the particles in amorphous solids experience a range of interactions, so they soften gradually and melt over a range of temperatures. Some crystalline solids have defects in the definite repeating pattern of their particles. These defects (which include vacancies, atoms or ions not in the regular positions, and impurities) change physical properties such as electrical conductivity, which is exploited in the silicon crystals used to manufacture computer chips.
10.6 Lattice Structures in Crystalline Solids
The structures of crystalline metals and simple ionic compounds can be described in terms of packing of spheres. Metal atoms can pack in hexagonal closest-packed structures, cubic closest-packed structures, body-centered structures, and simple cubic structures. The anions in simple ionic structures commonly adopt one of these structures, and the cations occupy the spaces remaining between the anions. Small cations usually occupy tetrahedral holes in a closest-packed array of anions. Larger cations usually occupy octahedral holes. Still larger cations can occupy cubic holes in a simple cubic array of anions. The structure of a solid can be described by indicating the size and shape of a unit cell and the contents of the cell. The type of structure and dimensions of the unit cell can be determined by X-ray diffraction measurements.
Exercises
10.1 Intermolecular Forces
1. In terms of their bulk properties, how do liquids and solids differ? How are they similar?
2. In terms of the kinetic molecular theory, in what ways are liquids similar to solids? In what ways are liquids
different from solids?
3. In terms of the kinetic molecular theory, in what ways are liquids similar to gases? In what ways are liquids different from gases?
4. Explain why liquids assume the shape of any container into which they are poured, whereas solids are rigid and retain their shape.
5. What is the evidence that all neutral atoms and molecules exert attractive forces on each other?
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