This tutorial is designed to reinforce the students' understanding of the three basic states of matter and introduce them to such additional ones as liquid crystalline states and the supercritical state. For the three classical states of matter, descriptions of both macroscopic and molecular-level characteristics of the states are given, and the influence of molecular-level behavior on macroscopic properties is stressed.

Relevant National Science Education Standards

Unifying Concepts and Processes — Each phase is described as a complicated system of interacting molecules. Molecular-level behavior is stressed as the cause for observable macroscopic properties.

Physical Science — The reading deals with the fundamental properties of macroscopic matter and how energy (heat) affects the states of matter.