Animations of the particulate level of matter are widely available for use in chemistry classes and are often the primary means of representing molecular behavior. These animations may also be viewed by individual students using textbook Web sites, although without reinforcement or feedback. It is not known to what extent the material in these animations becomes integrated into students' understanding of chemistry. This study examines what aspects of features of the particulate nature of matter learned from viewing two animations of sodium chloride dissolution at the particulate level students would transfer to their descriptions of an aqueous solution of sodium chloride viewed as a reactant solution in a video demonstration of a chemical reaction. The 18 college-level general chemistry students in the study had learned to incorporate some of the structural and functional features from particulate-level animations of sodium chloride dissolution into their explanations of the dissolution process. We investigated the difficulties these students had transferring that knowledge to descriptions of an aqueous solution of sodium chloride before it reacted with aqueous silver nitrate. Overall, the students incorporated some features seen in the animations into their explanations, yet had difficulty transferring their understanding to the new situation. (Contains 1 figure and 6 tables.)