States of Matter

States of matter are a very important thing to include when writing any chemical equation.

Always assume the chemical reaction is occurring at standard laboratory conditions unless stated otherwise.

  • 25 ⁰ C

  • 100 kPa

4 states of matter used in chemistry are:

  • solid (s): all metals (except Hg), most metal oxides and metal carbonates etc

  • liquid (l): H₂O, Hg etc

  • gas (g): CO₂ , O₂ , H₂ , Cl₂ , Ne etc

  • aqueous (aq): most other chemical that can be dissolved in water

In Unit 1 & 2, the only 2 chemical that have liquid state at room temperature is water and mercury.

In Unit 3 & 4, the liquid list gets expanded to include compounds that are molten. This is especially important in the topic of galvanic and electrolytic cells.

Ions always exist as aqueous UNLESS it is molten.

Determining States of Matter

Teacher's Tip:

On the VCE exam, you must ensure that for every chemical reaction you write, states are ALWAYS included (unless stated otherwise). This is expected of you and you may lose marks if your states are incorrect.

You can use the spectrochemical series in the data book to give you an idea of the states of matter of specific compounds. Just bear in mind that it is of course dependent on the states specified in the question.