--- title: Solids, liquids and gases — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Solids, liquids and gases», a lesson of the chemistry course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Most things around us are solids, liquids or gases, and the difference is how their particles behave. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/4-solids-liquids-and-gases/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Chemistry](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/) / Solids, liquids and gases # Solids, liquids and gases Lesson 4 of the chemistry course of Mova's primary school: 17 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/chemistry/4-solids-liquids-and-gases/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/4-solids-liquids-and-gases/0/) — Most things around us are solids, liquids or gases, and the difference is how their particles behave. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/4-solids-liquids-and-gases/1/) — In a solid like a wooden block the particles are locked in place and only wobble, so it keeps its shape. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/4-solids-liquids-and-gases/2/) — In a liquid like juice the particles stay close but slide past each other, so the juice takes the shape of a tall glass or a wide bowl but keeps the same amount. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/4-solids-liquids-and-gases/3/) — In a gas like the air in a balloon the particles fly about far apart, so a gas fills any space and can be squashed. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/4-solids-liquids-and-gases/4/) — Some things are tricky: toothpaste, ketchup and cornflour slime behave like a solid one moment and a liquid the next. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/4-solids-liquids-and-gases/5/) — A solid keeps its own shape because its particles are held in fixed places and only wobble. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/4-solids-liquids-and-gases/7/) — A gas spreads out to fill all the space it is in, and it can be squashed because its particles are far apart. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/4-solids-liquids-and-gases/8/) — Squashed air pushes back hard, which is how bike tyres and footballs work. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/4-solids-liquids-and-gases/9/) — A blown-up balloon shrinks a little in the cold and grows again when warmed. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/4-solids-liquids-and-gases/11/) — Toothpaste and ketchup are fine solid bits in a liquid; they sit still until pushed hard enough, then flow. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/4-solids-liquids-and-gases/12/) — Cornflour and water runs like a liquid when moved slowly but goes hard when punched quickly, because a quick push jams the grains together. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/4-solids-liquids-and-gases/13/) — Real steam is an invisible gas; the white cloud from a kettle is tiny water droplets formed as the steam cools, so the real steam is in the clear gap right at the spout. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/4-solids-liquids-and-gases/14/) — Steam can burn worse than boiling water, because it gives out extra heat as it turns back into water. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/4-solids-liquids-and-gases/15/) — Fizzy water has carbon dioxide gas dissolved in it under pressure; the gas escapes as bubbles, and warm drinks lose it faster; the bubbles rise because gas is much lighter than the liquid around them. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/4-solids-liquids-and-gases/16/) — A flame is glowing hot gas; its yellow light comes from tiny specks of hot soot. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/4-solids-liquids-and-gases/17/) — Lightning and glowing signs contain plasma, a fourth state: gas so hot or charged that its atoms lose electrons. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/4-solids-liquids-and-gases/18/) — Glass is a solid with jumbled particles; the idea that old windows are thick at the bottom because glass flows is a myth: old panes were simply made uneven, and some are thicker at the top. - ← previous: [Molecules: when atoms join up](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/3-molecules-when-atoms-join-up/) - next →: [Melting, freezing, boiling and condensing](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/5-melting-freezing-boiling-condensing/) - ↑ back to [Chemistry](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/)