The test is not how it feels. It is what happens when you put it in a jar.
Name
Do not go by touch (sand is hard, a towel is wet). Ask: poured into a new container, does it keep its shape or take the container's?
Solid
Shape: keeps its own shape
Space: takes up the same space wherever you put it
for example: a brick, a spoon, an ice cube, you
Liquid
Shape: takes the shape of whatever you pour it into
Space: always takes up the same amount of space
for example: water, milk, honey, petrol
Gas
Shape: spreads out and fills the whole container
Space: takes up as much space as it is given
for example: air, steam, the bubbles in a fizzy drink
Tick one for each.Honey is the one that argues back. It pours so slowly that it looks like it is keeping its shape — but leave it long enough and it will spread out flat and take the shape of the plate. Slow is not the same as solid.
a rock
milk
an ice cube
a wooden spoon
steam from a kettle
the bubbles in lemonade
orange juice
the air in a balloon
honey
a sweater
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Which Is It? Sand
The one the jar test gets wrong.
Name
And now the difficult one: sand
Sand pours. It takes the shape of the bucket you tip it into, just like water does.
So is it a liquid? Look at ONE grain of sand very closely and answer these.