# How Do Particles Explain What Matter Does?

Imagine you could shrink down very small. According to the particle model, tiny particles that make up everything around you are too small to see with the naked eye.

**Think about a solid, a liquid, and a gas. Describe how their particles are arranged and how they move. Explain why each state of matter acts the way it does based on how particles move and sit.** ([Outcome](https://goa-cc-uat-aili-app-001.azurewebsites.net/explore/node/36473), [Details](https://goa-cc-uat-aili-app-001.azurewebsites.net/explore/node/36475))

### Where to start

- How are particles packed together differently in a solid compared to a liquid?
- What are particles doing in a gas that they are not doing in a liquid?
- Why can you squeeze a gas but not a solid?
- If particles are always moving, why do solids keep their shape?

### Stretch

Think of a real material that changes from one state to another. Ice melting into water is a good example. Use what you know about particles to explain what happens to them during that change.

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*AILI prompt · language en · model claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · generated 2026-09-17 · id 817563c4-551f-47f1-a046-5815754e2280*

### Sources

- node:n1: Matter: Understandings of the physical world are deepened by investigating matter and energy. (https://goa-cc-uat-aili-app-001.azurewebsites.net/explore/node/36471)
- node:n2: How can states of matter and other physical properties be explained using the particle model of matter? (https://goa-cc-uat-aili-app-001.azurewebsites.net/explore/node/36472)
- node:n3: Students investigate the particle model of matter in relation to the physical properties of solids, liquids, and gases. (https://goa-cc-uat-aili-app-001.azurewebsites.net/explore/node/36473)
- node:n4: Details (https://goa-cc-uat-aili-app-001.azurewebsites.net/explore/node/36475)
- node:n5: Matter: Understandings of the physical world are deepened by investigating matter and energy. (https://goa-cc-uat-aili-app-001.azurewebsites.net/explore/node/36575)
- node:n6: How can the particles of matter be influenced by heating or cooling? (https://goa-cc-uat-aili-app-001.azurewebsites.net/explore/node/36576)
- node:n7: Students investigate how particles of matter behave when heated or cooled and analyze effects on solids, liquids, and ga (https://goa-cc-uat-aili-app-001.azurewebsites.net/explore/node/36577)
- node:n8: Details (https://goa-cc-uat-aili-app-001.azurewebsites.net/explore/node/36579)
- node:n9: Unit A: Mix and Flow of Matter (https://goa-cc-uat-aili-app-001.azurewebsites.net/explore/node/17299)
- node:n10: Outcomes for Science, Technology and Society (STS) and Knowledge (https://goa-cc-uat-aili-app-001.azurewebsites.net/explore/node/17300)
- node:n11: *Students will:* Investigate and compare the properties of gases and liquids; and relate variations in their viscosity,  (https://goa-cc-uat-aili-app-001.azurewebsites.net/explore/node/17303)