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The Particle Model

Everything is made of particles. How they are arranged and how much they move decides whether something is a solid, liquid or gas.

Arrangement
Movement
Energy
Heating gives particles more energy: a solid melts to a liquid, then the liquid evaporates (or boils) to a gas. Cooling reverses it: a gas condenses to a liquid, then the liquid freezes to a solid. Mass is conserved through every change.