Scientists Say Chemistry

Scientists Say: Sublimation

This is what happens when matter goes straight from solid to gas

This ice won’t leave a puddle behind. It’s dry ice — frozen carbon dioxide. At room temperature, it undergoes sublimation — transforming from a solid to a gas.

RICHARD WHEELER/WIKIPEDIA (CC BY-SA 3.0)

By Bethany Brookshire

Sublimation (noun, “SUB-lim-A-shun”)

This is the process in which a substance goes directly from a solid state to a gas, without passing through the liquid phase. Matter exists in four phases: solid, liquid, gas and plasma. As matter heats up, solid melts to liquid, liquid evaporates to gas and gas becomes a plasma. But when the right conditions are met, a solid can sublimate, going straight from a solid to a gas.  

In a sentence

If you’ve ever watched dry ice steam, you’ve watched the sublimation of frozen carbon dioxide.

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Power Words

More About Power Words

carbon     The chemical element having the atomic number 6. It is the physical basis of all life on Earth. Carbon exists freely as graphite and diamond. It is an important part of coal, limestone and petroleum, and is capable of self-bonding, chemically, to form an enormous number of chemically, biologically and commercially important molecules.

carbon dioxide     (or CO2) A colorless, odorless gas produced by all animals when the oxygen they inhale reacts with the carbon-rich foods that they’ve eaten. Carbon dioxide also is released when organic matter (including fossil fuels like oil or gas) is burned. Carbon dioxide acts as a greenhouse gas, trapping heat in Earth’s atmosphere. Plants convert carbon dioxide into oxygen during photosynthesis, the process they use to make their own food.

evaporate     To turn from liquid into vapor.

liquid     A material that flows freely but keeps a constant volume, like water or oil.

matter     Something which occupies space and has mass. Anything with matter will weigh something on Earth.

plasma     (in chemistry and physics) A gaseous state of matter in which electrons separate from the atom. A plasma includes both positively and negatively charged particles. (in medicine) The colorless fluid part of blood.

solid     Firm and stable in shape; not liquid or gaseous.

solid state     A term for electronics technologies that create circuitry or devices from solid materials known as semiconductors. As they work, their electrons (or other charge carriers) remain confined entirely within the solid material.

About Bethany Brookshire

Bethany Brookshire was a longtime staff writer at Science News Explores. She has a Ph.D. in physiology and pharmacology and likes to write about neuroscience, biology, climate and more. She thinks Porgs are an invasive species.

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