When pressure is increased on a liquid while keeping the temperature constant, what state can the substance change into?

• A. It becomes a gas
• B. The liquid can undergo solidification or freezing
• C. It remains a liquid
• D. It becomes plasma

Answer: (B)

Raising pressure at the same temperature pushes the system toward the phase with higher density. For most substances, that denser phase is a solid, so increasing pressure can cause a liquid to solidify (freeze). In other words, the liquid can transition into a solid under higher pressure while the temperature stays fixed.

It wouldn’t turn into a gas just by squeezing it harder; increasing pressure tends to condense or compress phases, not ionize them. Plasma formation requires very high energy to strip electrons, not just pressure. There are exceptions (like water, where ice is less dense than liquid water), but the general idea is that higher pressure at constant temperature favors solidification.