* Solids have a fixed shape and volume: The particles in a solid are tightly packed together in a regular, repeating pattern. This strong attraction between particles gives solids their rigidity and prevents them from changing shape easily.
Let's contrast this with other states of matter:
* Liquids take the shape of the bottom portion of their container because their particles can move around more freely, but they still have a definite volume.
* Gases take the shape of their entire container because their particles are very spread out and move around randomly. They also have no fixed volume.
In summary: Solids maintain their own shape because of the strong intermolecular forces holding their particles together, making them resistant to deformation.
