The most common substance on earth, water, is primarily present in what state?
freshwater
gas
solid
liquid
Water is the most common substance on Earth, and most of it exists in the liquid state. A liquid is one of four well-known states of matter, along with solid, gas, and plasma states. The particles of liquids are in close contact with each other but not as tightly packed as the particles in solids. The particles can slip past one another and take the shape of their container. However, they cannot pull apart and spread out to take the volume of their container, as particles of a gas can. If the volume of a liquid is less than the volume of its container, the top surface of the liquid will be exposed to the air, like the vinegar in the bottle pictured in the Figure below .