Editing Molecule Dance

{| class="wikitable" style="color:black; background-color:#ddd; margin-left: auto; float:right"
| [[Physics]], [[Chemistry]]:
| States of Matter
|-
| Grade Range:
| [[Elementary School]], [[Middle School]]
|-
| Format:
| [[Hands-on]], [[Stage]]
|}

The Molecule Dance is great with young audiences, and it can be entertaining to older students as well. Be sure to get a good number of volunteers for this; the more volunteers the better the demonstration!

== Materials ==

*''Optional'': Music Player with speakers.

== Safety Precautions ==

Please read the Physical Demonstration section of the [[Demonstration Safety]] page before performing this demonstration.

== Demonstration ==

# Ask for volunteers from the audience. If you have an audience of 20 or less and have sufficient space, have everyone be a volunteer! Otherwise, choose anywhere between 5 and 20 volunteers from the audience, keeping in mind the size of the presentation space you have. Have your volunteers either line up or stand in a circle in the center of the room.
# Tell everyone that the volunteers will be doing the ''Molecule Dance''! Each volunteer represents a molecule or atom. They will be dancing and moving to represent the states of matter described. After describing a state of matter, you will say "GO", and they will start dancing. When we want to change to a new state of matter, we will first say "FREEZE" to make the molecules stand still.
# Have the volunteers start out as a liquid: they spread out a bit in the room, and move at a walking pace.
#* Next, have the volunteers go to a gas state: they spread out across the whole room, and can move at a jogging pace.
#* Have them return to the liquid state, then have them go to a solid state: they gather close together, and move very slowly.
#*''Optional: Have them return to the liquid state, then to the gas state. Finally, have them go to the plasma state: They are running, taking up as much space as possible, and are screaming the whole time.''
# Be sure to give the volunteers some applause! 

== Why This Works ==

The ''States of Matter'' are the four states, or forms, that we find all matter around us in. ''Solids'' are when matter is condensed, and it does not change shape if it is put into a container. A solid will keep its shape under normal circumstances, and will resist changing shape. The atoms in a solid are in a rigid formation, and will stay in that formation unless an outside force acts on them. ''Liquids'' are when matter is less condensed, and will adjust to fill the shape of a container. Liquids will spread out inside a container, such as a bottle, but won't separate to try and fill a container fully. The atoms in a liquid are still close to each other, but they are no longer in a rigid formation, and can move past each other. ''Gases'' are much less dense than liquids, and will also adjust to fill a container. However, a gas will spread out to try and fill the entire container, unlike a liquid that will collect into a portion of the container. The atoms in a gas are no longer collecting together, and can freely move around and past each other. Gases have more energy than liquids, and liquids have more energy than solids. ''Plasmas'' have more energy than gases, and behave similar to gases. The main difference between plasmas and gases is with their electrons. The atoms in a plasma are no longer sliding past each other, because their electrons are no longer staying in place and are jumping around everywhere. They will instead try to fly away from each other, and by doing so they release extra energy as light, sound and heat.

== Additional Information ==

* This demonstration is usually used as a lead-in for the [[Liquid Nitrogen]] demonstrations.
* This demonstration pairs well with the [[Density Rainbow]], [[Tyndall Effect]], and [[Methanol Cannon]] demonstrations.