Causes Of Phase Transition In Thermodynamics

Phases are various macroscopic states of matter. The chapters that follow will describe typical phases such as liquid, solid, and gas. Superconducting and magnetic states are also significant phases. To expand on the concept of studying phases of matter in Chemistry, as previously described, the phase definition Chemistry is the study of homogeneous thermodynamic states of matter, in which matter solidifies, liquefies, or evaporates in response to changes in its surrounding temperature and other influencing circumstances. As a result, as may be deduced, the concept of phase in the discipline of Chemistry remains identical to that in the field of Physics.

Phases of matter

Three of the most common states of matter that we see everyday are solid, liquid, and gas or vapor. It’s because these are the three types of thermodynamic phases that we are most used to. Water can be found in lakes and oceans as liquid, but it can also be found in ice caps as ice. When water is boiled on the stove, it turns into gas. Thus, we know about the three main types of matter. However, the idea of phase in terms of matter and its states isn’t just limited to the three states above. Amorphous, Colloid, Crystalline, Plasma, and Glassy phases are some of the other phases that exist, or are at least thought about. Out of these, the phase that deals with the Plasma state is thought to be the most common.

During the thermodynamic phase of Plasma, the number of charged particles that make up the matter becomes about the same. This leads to the ionization of the gas in the matter because both the positively and the negatively charged particles become about the same in number. So, Plasma is often thought of as the fourth phase of matter, after solid, liquid, and gaseous.

Solid: The energy of the atoms decreases in this state of matter, resulting in the development of a three-dimensional structure. Consider an ice cube.

Liquid: In this state of matter, the matter’s structure is pliable, taking on the shape of the vessel into which it is poured. For instance, a jar of water.

Gas: In this state of matter, the matter’s structure is gaseous, which means it cannot take on any shape or structure. For instance, the mist produced by boiling water.

Causes of phase transition

Temperature:

Temperature has the ability to alter the phase of a substance. A simple example is freezing water to convert it to ice. In the illustration above, we see a solid substance contained within a container. When we place it near a source of heat, such as a burner, heat is imparted to the substance, increasing the kinetic energy of the molecules. The temperature of the substance is increased until it reaches its melting point. As heat is delivered past the melting point, the solid begins to melt and transform into a liquid. This form of phase transition is referred to as an isobaric process since the system’s pressure remains constant.

Melting point:

There is a point at which each substance can be broken down. The melting point is the point at which a solid turns into a liquid. At different pressures, it takes a different amount of heat to melt a substance. When the pressure is 1 atmosphere, each pure element on the periodic table has a melting point. This is the temperature at which that element will become liquid when the pressure drops to that level.

Boiling point:

The boiling point of each substance is also different. The boiling point is the point at which a liquid evaporates into a gas. Temperature and pressure affect the boiling point. The boiling point of a pure element is the same as its melting point.

Pressure:

Another way pressure can be used to change the phase of a thing is by making the thing move. In the picture above, we can see a container with a piston that keeps gas inside. The pressure in the gas rises as the piston squeezes it. As soon as the boiling point has been reached, the gas will turn into a liquid. As the piston squeezes the liquid, the pressure will rise until the melting point has been reached. Then the liquid will turn into a solid because it will be cold enough. This is an example of an isothermal process, which means that the temperature stays the same and only the pressure changes.

Conclusion

A system is a part of the universe that has been chosen to be studied because of how it changes in response to different conditions in the world around it. A system can be very complicated, like a planet, or very simple, like the liquid inside of a glass, but it doesn’t matter. Phases are those parts of a system that are physically and mechanically separate from other parts of the system. Phases in a system can be gaseous, liquid, or solid at the same time. Solids are made up of strong atomic bonds and a lot of viscosity, which makes them hard to move. It is important to note that not all solids, like glass, are crystallized. This is because they don’t have a three-dimensional periodic arrangement of atoms and are non-crystalline, or amorphous. Gasses are made up of weakly bonded atoms that don’t have long-range periodicity. Gasses expand to fill any empty space. Liquids have properties that are somewhere in between those of solids and gasses. Because the molecules of a liquid are packed together, they look more like solids. Liquids have a certain volume, but their low viscosity lets them change shape over time. The matter in a system can be made up of more than one solid or liquid phase. A system can only have one gas phase, which must be of the same composition because the molecules of gasses mix completely in all proportions.