• 47 strips
  • Checked October 2026

States of Matter Comic Strip Ideas

Three comic strip premises per press, each with a labeled beat for every state or change of state.

States of Matter Comic Strip Ideas

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  1. A window on a cold day draws its own picture3 panels. Gas: warm indoor air carries water vapor. Condensation: at the cold window pane the vapor cools into liquid. Liquid: the pane mists over, a finger draws a face in it, and drops run down from the eyes.
  2. Evaporation and Condensation share one closed jar3 panels. Evaporation: in a closed jar, liquid at the surface keeps turning to gas. Condensation: the gas keeps turning back to liquid. Balance: when both go at the same rate, the level in the jar stops changing.
  3. Freezing as musical chairs: every particle finds a seat3 panels. Liquid: the particles wander close together while the music plays. Freezing: the temperature drops below the freezing point, the music stops and each one takes a fixed place. Solid: a regular pattern of seats, everyone in place and only vibrating.

Next step Comic formats for a school project

All 47 strips

Solid, liquid and gas 8

  • A drink on a space station pulls itself into a ball 3 panels. On Earth: juice lies in the bottom of a cup with a level surface on top. In orbit: the cup is opened in microgravity. Ball: the juice pulls into a floating ball, and its volume has not changed.
  • A job fair: which state can fill a balloon? 3 panels. Solid: a brick applies, but it keeps its own shape and will not reach the corners. Liquid: water applies and takes the balloon's shape, yet only up to its own fixed volume. Gas: air gets the job, because a gas takes both the shape and the volume of its container.
  • A solid, a liquid and a gas argue over one jar 3 panels. Solid: the block sits in the jar and keeps its own shape. Liquid: the juice takes the shape of the jar, but only up to its own volume. Gas: the air spreads out to fill the whole jar, shape and volume, and says the jar was always its.
  • A squeezing contest that only the gas loses 3 panels. Gas: pushed by a piston, the gas squeezes into less space, because its particles started far apart. Liquid: the same push hardly changes it. Solid: no change either, and it keeps its shape as well.
  • Particles as a crowd: in seats, in the lobby, across town 3 panels. Solid: an audience packed in assigned seats, each person fixed in place and only fidgeting. Liquid: the lobby at intermission, where people stay close together but squeeze past one another. Gas: after the show, everyone far apart and heading in every direction.
  • Plasma, the fourth state, is left off the class poster 3 panels. Poster: Solid, Liquid and Gas pose for the classroom poster. Plasma: a fourth state, made when atoms get so hot that electrons are stripped from them, asks where its picture is. Proof: it points at lightning, a neon sign and the Sun.
  • The same water three times: ice, water and vapor 4 panels. Solid: ice, below 0 degrees Celsius. Liquid: water, between 0 and 100. Gas: heated past 100, water vapor. Same stuff: a change of state is a physical change, and the molecules in all three panels are the same H2O.
  • Zoom in on one drop: close together and never still 3 panels. Drop: a drop of water rests on a table. Zoom: inside, the particles are close together and sliding past one another. Closer: none of them ever stops moving, although the drop looks perfectly still.

Melting and freezing 8

  • A dance floor that turns from neat rows to a slow mix 3 panels. Solid: dancers stand in tight rows and only wiggle on the spot. Melting: the music heats up and the rows break. Liquid: everyone stays close together but slides past everyone else.
  • A duck pond that freezes at night and melts by noon 4 panels. Liquid: a pond at dusk, with ducks paddling. Freezing: overnight the air drops below 0 degrees Celsius and the surface turns to ice. Solid: at dawn the ducks slide about on top. Melting: the midday sun warms the ice past its melting point, and they are paddling again.
  • An ice cube's bad day on a sunny windowsill 3 panels. Solid: the ice cube sits square and proud in a saucer, its particles packed tight and only vibrating. Melting: sunlight warms it, and the particles begin to slide past one another. Liquid: it is a pool now, the same water, with the shape of the saucer.
  • An ice sculpture swan slowly loses its neck 3 panels. Solid: a carved ice swan, sharp-edged, holds the shape it was given. Melting: the warm room takes it past its melting point, and the edges round off and drip. Liquid: a tray of water, the same substance as before, with no swan in it.
  • Freezing as musical chairs: every particle finds a seat 3 panels. Liquid: the particles wander close together while the music plays. Freezing: the temperature drops below the freezing point, the music stops and each one takes a fixed place. Solid: a regular pattern of seats, everyone in place and only vibrating.
  • Heat, a visitor who knocks on a solid's door 3 panels. Solid: the particles are at home, held in fixed positions. Melting: Heat arrives, and at the melting point the order breaks down. Liquid: the particles are loose and flowing, and when Heat leaves again they will freeze back in place.
  • Melting Point and Freezing Point find out they are twins 3 panels. Melting Point: one character brags about the temperature at which a solid turns liquid. Freezing Point: another brags about the temperature at which the liquid turns solid. Reveal: for most substances it is the same temperature, reached from opposite sides.
  • Water goes into the freezer and comes out with corners 3 panels. Liquid: water poured into a square tray takes the tray's shape. Freezing: in the freezer it cools below 0 degrees Celsius, 32 Fahrenheit, and its particles lock into fixed places. Solid: tipped out, it keeps its corners with no tray at all.

Evaporation and boiling 8

  • A mountain camper whose water boils early 3 panels. Sea level: a pot of water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. Mountain: high up, where the air pressure is lower, the same water boils before it gets that hot. Camper: checks the thermometer twice and blames the pot.
  • A pot of water: quiet evaporation, then loud boiling 4 panels. Liquid: water sits in a pot on the stove. Evaporation: a little escapes from the surface before the pot is even hot. Boiling: at 100 degrees Celsius, 212 Fahrenheit, bubbles of vapor form in the liquid. Gas: the water leaves the pot as steam.
  • A salt pond where the water leaves and the salt stays 3 panels. Liquid: a shallow pond of salty water lies in the sun. Evaporation: the water turns to gas and drifts away, and the salt cannot follow. Solid: white salt is left on the dry bed, which is one way table salt is made.
  • Evaporation and Boiling argue about who works harder 3 panels. Evaporation: I work only at the surface, even when it is cold, and I take my time. Boiling: I wait for the boiling point, then I am rapid and full of bubbles. Both: either way, a liquid turns into a gas.
  • The fastest particles leave and the rest feel cooler 3 panels. Liquid: in a drop of water some particles move faster than others. Evaporation: the fast ones near the surface escape as gas. Cooler: the ones left behind have less energy on average, so the liquid cools, which is how sweat cools skin.
  • Particles as a crowd leaving a concert by the exits 3 panels. Liquid: the crowd is packed close and milling about. Evaporation: only people at the edge who are moving fast enough get out of the doors. Gas: outside they spread far apart and go in every direction.
  • Two wet paw prints, and the one in the sun dries first 3 panels. Liquid: a dog leaves two wet paw prints, one in the shade and one in the sun. Evaporation: the water in both turns to gas, faster where it is warmer. Gone: the sunny print vanishes first, and the dog looks for whoever took it.
  • Two wet towels on a line, one of them in the wind 3 panels. Liquid: two wet towels hang on a line, one in still air and one in the wind. Evaporation: particles at the surface of the water escape into the air as gas, faster where the wind carries them off. Dry: the windy towel finishes first.

Condensation 7

  • A cold glass of lemonade starts to sweat 3 panels. Gas: on a humid day the air around a cold glass is full of water vapor that nobody can see. Condensation: the vapor touching the cold glass cools and turns to liquid. Liquid: drops run down the outside, and the lemonade swears it did not leak.
  • A window on a cold day draws its own picture 3 panels. Gas: warm indoor air carries water vapor. Condensation: at the cold window pane the vapor cools into liquid. Liquid: the pane mists over, a finger draws a face in it, and drops run down from the eyes.
  • Car windows fog up on a full back seat 3 panels. Gas: four friends in a parked car breathe out warm, moist air. Condensation: the vapor reaches the cold glass and turns to droplets. Liquid: the windows fog, and someone writes a message that reads backward from outside.
  • Condensation gives back the heat that evaporation took 3 panels. Evaporation: a liquid takes in heat to become a gas. Journey: the gas carries that energy with it. Condensation: when it cools back into liquid, the particles draw close again and the heat is released.
  • Evaporation and Condensation share one closed jar 3 panels. Evaporation: in a closed jar, liquid at the surface keeps turning to gas. Condensation: the gas keeps turning back to liquid. Balance: when both go at the same rate, the level in the jar stops changing.
  • Glasses that fog up at the door 3 panels. Inside: the lenses are cold from an air-conditioned room. Condensation: outside on a humid day, water vapor meets the cold lenses and turns into tiny droplets. Liquid: the wearer sees only fog and greets a mailbox.
  • Particles as a crowd coming back in from recess 3 panels. Gas: the particles are spread across the whole yard, far apart and fast. Condensation: the air turns cold, and they slow down and gather. Liquid: close together again, still moving past one another.

Sublimation and deposition 8

  • A frozen shirt on the line dries without dripping 3 panels. Solid: a wet shirt is hung out on a day below freezing, and the water in it turns to ice. Sublimation: the ice slowly turns straight into water vapor. Dry: the shirt is dry in the end, and it never dripped.
  • A snowfield that shrinks on a cold, sunny day 3 panels. Solid: a snowfield high on a mountain, far too cold to melt. Sublimation: strong sun and dry wind turn the top layer of snow straight into water vapor. Less: by evening the snow is thinner, and no stream ran off it.
  • Dry ice skips a step and leaves no puddle 3 panels. Solid: a block of dry ice, which is frozen carbon dioxide. Sublimation: at room temperature it turns straight into gas, with no liquid stage. Gone: where the block sat there is no puddle at all, and the mop has nothing to do.
  • Freeze-dried strawberries: the ice leaves, the fruit stays 3 panels. Solid: strawberry slices are frozen, so the water in them is ice. Sublimation: under low pressure the ice turns directly to vapor and is drawn off. Dry: what is left is the fruit with its water gone.
  • Frost writes on a leaf overnight 3 panels. Gas: on a night below freezing, water vapor drifts in the air around a leaf. Deposition: the vapor loses heat and turns straight into ice, with no liquid stage. Solid: by morning the leaf is edged with frost.
  • Stage fog rolls in at the school play 3 panels. Solid: backstage, a fog machine holds dry ice, solid carbon dioxide. Sublimation: it turns directly into very cold gas. Fog: the white cloud rolling across the stage is that cold gas mixed with cold, humid air.
  • Sublimation and Deposition, the shortcut twins 3 panels. Long way: a solid melts into a liquid, and the liquid turns into a gas. Sublimation: one twin jumps from solid straight to gas. Deposition: the other jumps from gas straight back to solid, and both skip the liquid in the middle.
  • Violet vapor: iodine goes from solid to gas and back 3 panels. Solid: dark crystals of iodine in a sealed flask. Sublimation: when heated they give off violet vapor. Deposition: on the cool glass above, the vapor turns back into dark crystals.

A hero who changes state 8

  • A hero who melts under a locked door and refreezes 4 panels. Solid: the hero stands at a locked door, firm and fixed in shape. Melting: warmed up, the hero turns liquid and takes the shape of the gap under the door. Liquid: the hero flows through. Freezing: cooled again, the hero is solid and standing on the other side.
  • A hero who turns to gas and fills a whole hall at once 3 panels. Liquid: the hero is a pool on the floor of a huge hall. Evaporation: warmed, the hero rises from the surface as gas. Gas: spread through the entire hall, the hero is everywhere at once and finds the lost cat.
  • A hero whose three forms have three weaknesses 3 panels. Solid: strong and sharp-edged, but unable to change shape to fit through anything. Liquid: able to flow, but always the shape of whatever holds it. Gas: able to fill any space, but spread thin through all of it.
  • A sidekick made of dry ice who can only sublimate 3 panels. Hero: changes from solid to liquid to gas, one step at a time. Sidekick: made of dry ice, skips the liquid and goes straight from solid to gas. Problem: the sidekick can never flow under a door, and keeps arriving as fog.
  • The hero's costume fitting: one suit for three shapes 3 panels. Solid: the tailor measures a hero with a fixed shape and volume. Liquid: the hero melts in the middle of the fitting and takes the shape of the chair. Gas: the hero evaporates and fills the shop, and the tailor gives up and sews a jar.
  • The hero's rival, who can only cool things down 3 panels. Condensation: the rival cools the hero's gas form back to liquid. Freezing: colder still, and the liquid is locked solid. Escape: the hero waits for the sun, because heat runs both of those changes backward.
  • Origin story: an ice cube, a sunbeam and a new power 4 panels. Solid: an ordinary ice cube. Melting: a sunbeam hits, and it becomes liquid for the first time. Evaporation: the sun keeps shining and it rises as gas. Vow: it is the same water in every form, and it promises to use all three.
  • Secret identity: by day an ordinary glass of water 3 panels. Liquid: at school the hero is an ordinary glass of water. Freezing: trouble at the ice rink calls for a solid. Evaporation: trouble on a rooftop calls for a gas, and nobody notices that the glass is empty.

How it works

These states of matter comic strip ideas are sorted by the change shown: melting, freezing, evaporation, condensation or sublimation. For a hero comic book, choose A hero who changes state.

Read the full guide

The changes these strips show

Melting turns a solid into a liquid, and freezing turns it back. Evaporation turns a liquid into a gas at its surface, boiling does it with bubbles, and condensation turns the gas back. Sublimation goes from solid straight to gas, as dry ice does, and deposition from gas straight to solid, as frost does.

For a Matter Man comic book

Give the hero one job for each form: solid to hold a shape, liquid to flow under a door, gas to fill a room. A rival who cools things down runs every change backward. One strip to a page makes a short comic book.

  • Draw the particles as dots in a corner of each panel: packed in rows, close and loose, or far apart.
  • Keep the substance one color in every panel. It changes state, not what it is.

Questions and answers

How do you make a comic strip about states of matter?

Pick one substance, such as an ice cube. Give each panel one state or one change, in order, and write its name in the caption. Show what the particles are doing each time.

What are ideas for a Matter Man school project comic book?

A hero who melts to slip under a locked door and refreezes on the other side. An origin story with an ice cube and a sunbeam. A sidekick made of dry ice who can only sublimate and keeps arriving as fog.

What is a funny states of matter comic idea?

Choose Funny: a solid, a liquid and a gas arguing over one jar, a glass of lemonade that swears it did not leak, or Plasma asking why it was left off the class poster.

What is the difference between evaporation and boiling?

Evaporation happens only at the surface of a liquid, even when the liquid is cold. Boiling starts at the boiling point, 100 degrees Celsius for water and lower on a high mountain, and is rapid, with bubbles of vapor.

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