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Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme
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These resources have been reviewed and selected by STEM Learning’s team of education specialists for factual accuracy and relevance to teaching STEM subjects in UK schools.
Particle Theory *suitable for home teaching*
These downloadable videos and animations are part of the multimedia package Stuff and Substance, developed by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). They can be used to introduce a particle model to explain why a substance can exist in both the solid and liquid states and why different substances have different melting points.
The idea of different strengths of ‘holding power’ between particles is crucial to explaining why different substances have different melting points. It is also important to appreciate that the contrasting characters of the solid and liquid states is explained by the change in movement, alone. Mistakenly, many students attribute the difference between the two states to a change in spacing. Other misconceptions are to think the particles are embedded in the continuous substance or that the particles have macroscopic character. These animations are designed to teach the necessary ideas and discourage misconceptions. They show zooming in from a lump down to the particle level, vibration in the solid state at different temperatures and the close-spaced movement of the liquid state. Different substances are identified by different particle shapes.
These video and animation files form part of the resources in the section Particle Theory in the Stuff and Substance multimedia package, which provides a series of interactive pages that can be used by teachers or students in the classroom.
Please note: From 2021, Adobe has discontinued support for Flash player and as a result some interactive files may no longer be playable. As an alternative method to accessing these files a group of volunteers passionate about the preservation of internet history have created project Ruffle (https://ruffle.rs/). Ruffle is an entirely open source project that you can download and run many interactive Flash resources. For further information regarding STEM Learning’s policy for website content, please visit our terms and conditions page.
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Please be aware that resources have been published on the website in the form that they were originally supplied. This means that procedures reflect general practice and standards applicable at the time resources were produced and cannot be assumed to be acceptable today. Website users are fully responsible for ensuring that any activity, including practical work, which they carry out is in accordance with current regulations related to health and safety and that an appropriate risk assessment has been carried out.
Downloads
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Animation: salt particles 5.64 KB
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Animation: wax particles 6.79 KB
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Animation: wax about to melt at 64C 12.57 KB
Show downloads
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Animation: salt particles 5.64 KB
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Animation: wax particles 6.79 KB
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Animation: wax about to melt at 64C 12.57 KB
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Download all files as a .zip68.77 KB
Information on the permitted use of this resource is covered by the Category Three Content section in STEM Learning’s Terms and conditions.
