Solids and Liquids

There is an urban legend that glass is an extremely thick liquid rather than a solid, even at room temperature. Proponents claim that old windows are thicker at the bottom than at the top, suggesting that the glass flowed down over time. Unfortunately, the proponents of this idea have no credible evidence that this is true, as old windows were likely not subject to the stricter manufacturing standards that exist today. Also, when mounting a piece of glass that has an obviously variable thickness, it makes structural sense to put the thicker part at the bottom, where it will support the object better.

Liquids flow when a small force is placed on them, even if only very slowly. Solids, however, may deform under a small force, but they return to their original shape when the force is relaxed. This is how glass behaves: it goes back to its original shape (unless it breaks under the applied force). Observers also point out that telescopes with glass lenses to focus light still do so even decades after manufacture — a circumstance that would not be so if the lens were liquid and flowed.

Glass is a solid at room temperature. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!

Table 8.1 “Properties of the Three Phases of Matter” lists some general properties of the three phases of matter.

Gases

Perhaps one of the most spectacular chemical reactions involving a gas occurred on May 6, 1937, when the German airship Hindenburg exploded on approach to the Naval Air Station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. The actual cause of the explosion is still unknown, but the entire volume of hydrogen gas used to float the airship, about 200,000 m³, burned in less than a minute. Thirty-six people, including one on the ground, were killed.

Hydrogen is the lightest known gas. Any balloon filled with hydrogen gas will float in air if its mass is not too great. This makes hydrogen an obvious choice for flying machines based on balloons—airships, dirigibles, and blimps. However, hydrogen also has one obvious drawback: it burns in air according to the well-known chemical equation, which is:

2H₂(g) + O₂(g) → 2H₂O(ℓ)

So although hydrogen is an obvious choice, it is also a dangerous choice.

Helium gas is also lighter than air and has 92% of the lifting power of hydrogen. Why, then, was helium not used in the Hindenburg? In the 1930s, helium was much more expensive. In addition, the best source of helium at the time was the United States, which banned helium exports to pre–World War II Germany. Today all airships use helium, a legacy of the Hindenburg disaster.

Of the three basic phases of matter—solids, liquids, and gases—only one of them has predictable physical properties: gases. In fact, the study of the properties of gases was the beginning of the development of modern chemistry from its alchemical roots. The interesting thing about some of these properties is that they are independent of the identity of the gas. That is, it doesn’t matter if the gas is helium gas, oxygen gas, or sulfur vapors; some of their behavior is predictable and, as we will find, very similar. In this chapter, we will review some of the common behaviors of gases.

Let us start by reviewing some properties of gases. Gases have no definite shape or volume; they tend to fill whatever container they are in. They can compress and expand, sometimes to a great extent. Gases have extremely low densities, one-thousandth or less the density of a liquid or solid. Combinations of gases tend to mix together spontaneously; that is, they form solutions. Air, for example, is a solution of mostly nitrogen and oxygen. Any understanding of the properties of gases must be able to explain these characteristics.

Media Attributions

• “Cleaning Window” by newlivinghouston © CC BY (Attribution)

Figure 6.0

• “Hindenburg” by James Vaughan © CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike)
• “Hindenburg burning” by Gus Pasquerella © Public Domain