Solid or Liquid?

We have been shopping, but all our shopping was mixed up. We were challenged to sort the products into solids and liquids.

As we did these, we began to establish definitions for these two states of matter. We realised that not all solids are hard (some are soft), and that some solids can behave like a liquid - they are just lots of little solid particles. We also discovered some Non Newtonian solids (like toothpaste, ketchup and mayo!).

Gas! Gas! Gas!

We explored gases in our classroom. By measuring the mass of different gas filled items, we discovered that gas has a mass!

How particles behave in matter

We role-played being particles in different states of matter.

We learnt that in a solid the particles are tight together and only vibrate slightly; in a liquid they spread out a little more, move around and vibrate a little faster, and that in a gas they move very fast, in all directions and take up as much space as possible.

The Water Cycle

Through practical experiments we observed, described and explained the water cycle, using scientific vocabulary.