What happens to the tiny particles of matter in a liquid when it approaches its freezing point?

Answer 1

Hi,

lets look at this from "bottom to top", that is: Solid state, Liquid State , Gaseous State.

starting with the solid state molecules have virtually no kinetic energy and so they stick together in one bulk... now suppose we put this mass on a source of heat, the molecules will gain energy from the heat and start to vibrate rapidly until they partially break free from the bulk, this indicates that we started going to the liquid phase and if we wait a little more all the molecules will break free and slide past each other forming a pure liquid.

if we turn off the heat the particles will lose their energy and at some point will stick to each other again forming the solid.

if we continue heating however, the molecules in the liquid will eventually break totally free and they will have enough kinetic energy to form a gas.

i hope this helped you :)