Would a single gold atom look golden? This video uses that question to draw the line between bulk properties and atomic properties — and then builds a practical method for determining the state of any substance at any temperature from its melting and boiling point data. By the end you'll be able to answer any state-prediction question the examiner sets.

What You Will Learn

01:54What bulk properties are and why they describe large collections of atoms rather than individual ones.

02:34Why a single gold atom would not appear golden and has no visible colour.

04:31Why conductivity is a bulk property requiring a flow of electrons between many atoms.

05:01Why malleability describes layers of atoms moving past each other, not a property of one atom.

05:56Why melting and boiling points are defined by how particles interact with each other and cannot apply to a single atom.

07:16How to determine the state of a substance at any given temperature from melting and boiling point data.

07:40How to use a number-line method to determine the state of a substance at any given temperature.

09:55How to apply state prediction to a range of substances given their phase transition data.

10:04How to classify metals from their melting point data alone.