How does heat affect changes of state?

Particle attractions can be broken and a change in state can be triggered by increases in heat energy.

For instance, hydrogen bonds between nearby water molecules hold water molecules in a crystalline structure during freezing. When heat is applied to ice, some of these hydrogen bonds will break, allowing an increasing number of water molecules to move freely and causing the ice to melt and change into a liquid state.

Heat affects changes of state by providing energy to the particles within a substance, causing them to overcome the forces holding them together in their current state. As heat is added, particles gain kinetic energy, causing them to move more rapidly and break free from their fixed positions. This results in a change of state, such as melting from a solid to a liquid, or vaporization from a liquid to a gas. Conversely, when heat is removed from a substance, the particles lose energy, slow down, and may eventually form a more ordered structure, leading to a change of state in the opposite direction, such as freezing or condensation.