well, its either gna be (s), (l), (g), or (aq)
now u do understand that u LEARN all teh equ' u need tro know in class/from text books for teh HSC exam??? so if u run into any trouble, just ask ur teacher
plus, its not a 'natural' thing, but just comes with practice and UNDERSTANDING
It's hard to erxplain, but ill try a couple:
now, gases are pretty obvious - elements like nitrogen, oxygen, cholirne, hydrogen exist as DIATOMIC GASES at Room temp, ie H2, N2, O2, CL2 are all gases
all group 8 elemts exist as gases but are just atoms (ie He, NOT He2, etc)
now, u'll hardly get liquids as a state EXEPT with water - water is usually a liquid, and only a gas when temp exceeds 100 (ie in combustiuon reactions)
the only exception to this are:
- the very first expt u should have done - the bromine water expt - teh alkanes/alkenes should be in liquid form
-esterification (end of topic 2)
-combustion (ethanol, octane, whatever)
(that's off teh top of my head)
now solid is also a rare one, and u only get during precipitation reactions usually and a couple of other cases
now the main one will be (aq)
this applies for ALL ACID/BASE REACTIONS (ie neutralisation) in titrations
for example,. all acids/bases are (aq) when reacting:
HCL, H2SO4, NaOH, Na2CO3, NAHCO3 (the latter 2 are solid before u dissolve, but ull learn about that)
so yeh, if u have any troubles just post 'em up, id be happy 2 help
just read textbooks and try to get the hang of it