Why are the shifts between phases of matter so sudden? Why aren’t there transitional phases?
In: Chemistry
Well for the familiar three phases, you can think about how matter in general should behave
Matter when it sticks together
Matter when it does not stick together
and Matter in an inbetween phase
The first describes solids
The second describes gases
The third describes liquids
It’s sort of hard to imagine any other traditional phase existing.
As far as the shifts, they aren’t particularly sudden
Temperature changes until the phase change temperature is reached
Then temperature stops changing. Any additional energy transfer goes into actually causing the phase change.
Once all of the matter has changed phase, then the temperature can begin changing again.
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